Micrurus hemprichii, commonly known as Hemprich's coral snake, the orange-banded coral snake, and the worm-eating coral snake, is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is native to northern South America. There are two recognized subspecies.
Local common names Local common names for Micrurus hemprichii include cobra coral lombrigueira in Brazilian Portuguese and coral lombricera in South American Spanish.
Etymology The specific name, hemprichii, is in honor of German naturalist Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Micrurus hemprichii, pp. 120).
Description As in many species of coral snakes, the color pattern of Micrurus hemprichii includes triads of black rings separated by white rings. However, unlike in other coral snakes, the black rings of the triads are very wide, and the white rings are very narrow. Also, the colored rings between the triads are relatively narrow and orange instead of being wide and red. Unlike in all other species of the genus Micrurus, in M. hemprichii the anal plate is undivided. xii + 328 pp., 38 maps, 63 color photographs, 49 color pattern drawings. (Micrurus hemprichii, pp. 180–182 + Map 21 + Color 31–32).
Habitat The preferred natural habitat of Hemprich's coral snake is forest at elevations below , including lower montane wet forest, gallery forest, and primary and secondary rain forest. It is a cryptic species living in leaf litter of the forest floor.
Behavior Micrurus hemprichii is terrestrial and primarily fossorial.
Diet Hemprich's coral snake preys predominately upon velvet worms, but also on small snakes and amphisbaenids.
Geographic distribution Micrurus hemprichii is found in the upper Amazon Basin, Guiana Highlands, and upper Orinoco Basin in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Subspecies Two subspecies are recognized as being valid. Micrurus hemprichii hemprichii Micrurus hemprichii ortoni
Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Micrurus.
References
Further reading
Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) .... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I–XXV. (Elaps hemprichii, p. 421). Freiberg M (1982). Snakes of South America. Hong Kong: T.F.H. Publications. 189 pp. . (Micrurus hemprichii, p. 115). 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 Appliquée, Paris, 2e Série [Series 2] 10: 438–449, 514–527. (Elaps hemprichii, new species, pp. 523–524). (in French). Schmidt KP (1953). "Hemprich's Coral Snake Micrurus hemprichi [sic]". Fieldiana Zool. 34 (13): 165–170. (Micrurus hemprichi [sic] ortoni, new subspecies, pp. 166–168).
External links "Micrurus hemprichii " at Coral Snakes of the World. https://web.archive.org/web/20160405124918/http://www.coralsnake.net/micrurus/hemprichs-coral-snake.html