Elegant coral snake
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Micrurus
Species:
M. elegans
Binomial name
Micrurus elegans
(Jan, 1858)
Synonyms[2]
  • Elaps elegans
    Jan, 1858
  • Micrurus elegans
    — Schmidt, 1933

The elegant coral snake (Micrurus elegans) is a species of elapid snake, native to southern Mexico and Guatemala.[1] There are two recognized subspecies.[3]

Geographic range

M. elegans occurs at elevations from 500–1,000 m (1,600–3,300 ft) above sea level in southern Mexico (from central Veracruz, northern Oaxaca, and the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, southeastward through southern Tabasco, northern Chiapas), and Guatemala (the Caribbean versant of the northern mountains of Guatemala southwards to the Sierra de las Minas).[1]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of M. elegans is forest, but it has also been found in agricultural areas.[1]

Reproduction

M. elegans is oviparous.[2]

Subspecies

There are two subspecies that are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.[3]

  • Micrurus elegans elegans (Jan, 1858)
  • Micrurus elegans veraepacis Schmidt, 1933

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Micrurus.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Lopez-Luna, M.A. (2013). "Micrurus elegans ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T64023A3132742. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-2.RLTS.T64023A3132742.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 Species Micrurus elegans at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  3. 1 2 "Micrurus elegans ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

Further reading

  • Heimes P (2016). Snakes of Mexico: Herpetofauna Mexicana Vol. I. Frankfurt, Germany: Chimaira. 572 pp. ISBN 978-3899731002.
  • Jan [G] (1858). "Plan d'une Iconographie descriptive des Ophidiens et description sommaire de nouvelles espèces de Serpents ". Revue et Magasin de Zoologie Pure et Apliquée, Paris, 2e Série [Second Series] 10: 438–449, 514–527. (Elaps elegans, new species, p. 517). (in French).
  • Liner EA (2007). "A Checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of México". Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University (80): 1–60. (Micrurus elegans, p. 53).
  • Schmidt KP (1933). "Preliminary Account of the Coral Snakes of Central America and Mexico". Field Museum of Natural History Zoological Series 20: 29–40. (Micrurus elegans veraepacis, new subspecies, p. 32).
  • Soto-Huerta, Karlo A.; Clause, Adam G. (2017). "Distribution and Range Extension of the Elegant Coralsnake , Micrurus elegans ". The Southwestern Naturalist 62 (4): 303–308.


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