Micrurus stuarti, also known commonly as Stuart's coral snake and the volcano coral snake, is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is endemic to Guatemala. There are no recognized subspecies.
Etymology The specific name, stuarti, is in honor of American herpetologist Laurence Cooper Stuart.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Micrurus stuarti, p. 257).
Local common names Local common names for Micrurus stuarti, in New World Spanish, include coral de los volcanes and coral de Stuart.
Description Micrurus stuarti can grow to a total length (tail included) of , but most are closer to .
A tricolored New World coral snake, its color pattern consists of 13–19 relatively broad black rings and very broad red rings, separated by narrow yellow rings. The black rings are not grouped in triads. The dorsal scales are smooth, and the red ones are black-tipped. The number of broad black rings on the tail may vary from 3 to 4, separated by narrow red-brown rings.
M. stuarti exhibits sexual dimorphism in color pattern and scalation. Males have 13–14 black rings on the body, and females have 16–19 black rings on the body. Males have 210–215 ventrals and 45–49 subcaudals, and females have 224–231 ventrals and 37–39 subcaudals.
Geographic range and habitat Micrurus stuarti has only been found on the Pacific versant of southwestern Guatemala. Its habitat consists of subtropical wet forest and lower montane wet forest, at elevations of . It may also occur in similar adjacent habitats in southeastern Mexico. xii + 328 pp., 38 maps, 63 color photographs, 49 color pattern drawings. (Micrurus stuarti, p. 221 + Map 35).
Behavior Micrurus stuarti is terrestrial and semi-fossorial.
Reproduction M. stuarti is oviparous. www.reptile-database.org.
References
Further reading
Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Ithaca, New York: Comstock Publishing Associates, a Division of Cornell University Press. 870 pp. (in two volumes). . 367 pp. Roze JA (1967). "A Check List of the New World Venomous Coral Snakes (Elapidae), with Descriptions of New Forms". American Museum Novitates (2287): 1–60. (Micrurus stuarti, new species, pp. 47–49, Figure 17). xxviii + 1,209 pp. (Micrurus stuarti, p. 454).