The elegant coral snake (Micrurus elegans), also known commonly as coralillo elegante in Spanish, is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is native to southern Mexico and Guatemala. There are two recognized subspecies.
Description Micrurus elegans has a color pattern which is unique for its genus. The narrow white or yellow rings of the black triads are interrupted by black, and as a result appear as series of light spots rather than complete rings. Medium-sized for the genus Micrurus, adults usually have a total length (tail included) of . The maximum recorded total length is . xii + 318 pp., 38 maps, 63 color photographs, 49 color pattern drawings. (Micrurus elegans, pp. 167–169, Figure 56 + Map 17 + Color 20 + Pattern 22).
Geographic range Micrurus elegans occurs at elevations from 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).
Habitat The preferred natural habitat of Micrurus elegans is forest, but it has also been found in agricultural areas.
Reproduction Micurus elegans is oviparous.
Subspecies There are two subspecies that are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies. 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
Further reading
Heimes P (2016). Snakes of Mexico: Herpetofauna Mexicana Vol. I. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Edition Chimaira. 572 pp. . 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". Zoological Series of Field Museum of Natural History 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 ". Southwestern Naturalist 62 (4): 303–308.