Micrurus altirostris (COPE, 1860)
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Micrurus altirostris
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Uruguayan coral snake |
| Synonym | Elaps altirostris COPE 1860: 345 (1859) Elaps heterochilus MOCQUARD 1887 Elaps frontalis — BOULENGER 1896 (part.) Micrurus frontalis altirostris SCHMIDT 1936 Micrurus lemniscatus multicinctus — AMARAL 1944 (part.) Micrurus frontalis multicinctus — ROZE 1983 (part.) Micrurus frontalis altirostris — CEI 1993 Micrurus frontalis altirostris — WELCH 1994: 83 Micrurus frontalis altirostris — ROZE 1994 Micrurus altirostris — JORGE DA SILVA & SITES 1999: 156 Micrurus altirostris — WALLACH et al. 2014: 441 Micrurus altirostris — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Uruguay, NE Argentina (Corrientes, Entre Rios, Misiones), Paraguay (fide Paul Smith, pers. comm., 27 Apr 2014) Type locality: "South America". |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: ANSP 6857; “unknown locality” fide MALNATE 1971. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Micrurus altirostris is a triadal coralsnake with a black snout and most scales bordered by white. The frontal is usually completely black, but the overall color of the head is red, which covers most of the parietals, temporals, and supralabials posterior from the eyes. The posterior border of the parietals is black (Figs. 8-11). There is a tendency toward increased melanism of the red color of the head and triad rings. Inferiorly, the gular region is red with irregular but intense black markings. All supralabials and infralabials possess ir-regular black markings. The triads on this form are characterized by subequal black rings (3-4 dorsal scales) with shorter white rings (1-2 dorsal scales) (see Table 1). The middle black ring sometimes can be a little longer than the external ones (4-5 dorsal scales). The first triad begins always at 1 or 2 dorsal scales from the parietals. All red and white rings are black-tipped. The triad total length is the shortest among all taxa of this complex. Triads range from 13 to 18 (Table 2). |
| Comment | Distribution not corrected for elevation of altirostris to species status. Venomous! Synonymy partly after ROZE 1996: 173. Date of publication sometimes cited as 1860. |
| Etymology | Latin from alti- meaning high and rostris meaning snout, probably alluding to the black coloration of the snout that extends to the parietals. |
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