Micrurus obscurus (JAN, 1872)
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Micrurus obscurus
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Black-neck Amazonian coral snake, Bolivian Coral Snake Portuguese: Chumbeguaçu, Cobra-Coral, Cobra-Coral-de-Pescoço-Amarelo, Coral, Coral-Verdadeira |
| Synonym | Elaps corallinus var obscura JAN & SORDELLI 1872: plate VI Elaps heterozonus PETERS 1881 Elaps heterozonus BOULENGER 1896 Elaps princeps BOULENGER 1905: 456 Micrurus spixii obscura — SCHMIDT & WALKER 1943: 294 Micrurus spixii princeps — SCHMIDT 1953: 175 Micrurus spixii obscurus — SCHMIDT 1955 Micrurus spixii princeps — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 218 Micrurus spixii obscurus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 218 Micrurus spixii obscurus — DUELLMAN 1978: 261 Micrurus spixii obscurus — WELCH 1994: 89 Micrurus spixii princeps — WELCH 1994: 89 Micrurus obscurus — HARVEY et al. 2003 Micrurus spixii obscurus — CAMPBELL & LAMAR 2004: 228 Micrurus spixii princeps — CAMPBELL & LAMAR 2004: 228 Micrurus obscurus — RIVAS et al. 2012 Micrurus obscurus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 451 Micrurus obscurus — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | S/E Colombia, NW Brazil (Upper Amazon region), N Bolivia, E Ecuador, E Peru; Type locality: “Lima” (in error); designated to “Iquitos, Peru” by SCHMIDT 1953: 175. princeps: NW/C Bolivia; Type locality: "Province Sara, Department Santa Cruzde la Sierra, Bolivia" |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: lost, formerly MSNM, destroyed in World War II. Lectotype: BMNH 1946.1.20.44, a male, designated by Roze, 1989:14 [princeps] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: (1) Dorsal pattern of yellow, red, and black triads; (2) hemipenis and tail relatively short; (3) two supralabials entering orbit; (4) mental usually separated from chinshields by medial contact of first pair of infralabials; (5) anal scale usually divided; (6) first triad usually incomplete (if complete, the first black ring is very short and edges the parietals; a "remnant" of this ring is often evident as a row of black scales on the side of the neck): two black rings on neck, the first strongly angled anteriorly along midline; (7) dorsal surface of snout red, parietal region yellow; black band crossing frontal and supraoculars to suprala bials; (8) apices of yellow rings with more black pigment than apices of scales in red rings; (9) yellow rings longest ventrally, some black rings greatly con stricted or interrupted ventrally; (10) mental and some anterior infralabials edged in black, remaining scales of chin mostly immaculate; (11) parietals immaculate yellow or with black blotching; scales of snout moderately blotched; (12) prefrontal contacting the supralabials in about 60% of the specimens; (13) 6-9 body triads (as few as 4 in specimens outside Bolivia, Roze, 1996), 0.67—1 triads on tail; (14) yellow rings longer or only slightly shorter than exterior black rings [HARVEY et al. 2003]. |
| Comment | Subspecies: M. obscurus is considered as a subspecies of M. lemniscatus by some authors. Venomous! Synonymy after HARVEY et al. 2003 who considered spixii and obscurus as separate species. However, Campbell & Lamar 2004 rejected that, considering the differences between the populations as insufficient to be different species. Distribution: TORRES-CARVAJAL et al. 2019 do not list M. obscurus for Ecuador but rather M. spixii, dependent on which authority is adopted. See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. |
| Etymology | Latin obscurus means dark and obscure and probably alludes to the darkened head and the long black nuchal band. When describing this subspecies Jan used a darkened, large adult specimen that apparently gave the impression of an "obscurus" snake. |
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