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Painted Coral Snake (Micrurus corallinus)
Order: Squamata
Family: Elapidae (fixed front- fang venomous snakes)
Other common names: Painted coral snake, mboi-chumbe, vibora de coral, boicora, bocora, cobra-coral, coral-verdadeira, ibiboboca, ibiboca, mboi-yvyvovo,
Distinguishing Features
Medium sized, brightly colored, tri colored coral snake, adults usually 65 to 85 cm long (max. 98+ cm). Head black with a posterior yellow or white band that narrows strongly dorsally (may be incomplete). Body pattern of broad red rings separated by a series of 15 to 27 (usually 17 to 21) fairly wide black rings narrowly bordered with white. Tail with 3 to 8 black and alternating yellow rings.
Geographical Range
Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Norte. Bahia, Santa Catarina), northeastern Argentina, (Misiones), Paraguay
Habitat
Found mainly in tropical deciduous & evergreen forest at low to intermediate elevations (near sea level to about 500 m), mainly in the Amazon basin. One old, unsubstantiated, report of a specimen from Argentina.
Life History
No data. Coral snakes usually are nocturnal, terrestrial (or burrow in loose soil and litter), and are nonaggressive. They eat locally available invertebrates, lizards, and other snakes; and are oviparous (with clutch size typically less than 15 eggs).
Comments
Most coral snakes have potent neurotoxic venom, which can be injected through grooved, fixed front fangs. Due to their rather small mouths, coral snake bites of humans usually occur on a finger, toe or webbing between such digits; and usually during an attempt to capture the snake. This species has historically been reported to inflict numerous bites on humans in South America, but a few other (misidentified) very similar spp. may have been involved, too.