Erythrolamprus aesculapii

Erythrolamprus aesculapii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Erythrolamprus
Species:	E. aesculapii
Binomial name
	Erythrolamprus aesculapii; (Linnaeus, 1758)[1]
Synonyms[2]
	Coluber æsculapii ; Linnaeus, 1758; Natrix æsculapii ; — Laurenti, 1768; Erythrolamprus æsculapii ; — A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron &; A.H.A. Duméril, 1854;

Erythrolamprus aesculapii, commonly known as the false coral, boicora, or falsa coral, is a colubrid snake endemic to South America.[3]

Geographic range

It is found in the Amazon rainforest of South America.[3][4]

It is also found on the island of Trinidad (in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago).[5]

Habitat

It is often found in the leaf litter or burrowing in the soil in rain forests.[3]

Diet

It feeds mainly on other snakes, including venomous species.[3]

Venom

This snake is mildly venomous.[5]

Mimicry

The brightly colored, ringed patterns of snakes of the genus Erythrolamprus resemble those of sympatric coral snakes of the genus Micrurus, and it has been suggested that this is due to mimicry. Whether this is classical Batesian mimicry, classical Müllerian mimicry, a modified form of Müllerian mimicry, or no mimicry at all, remains to be proven.[6]

Subspecies

The following four subspecies are recognized, including the nominotypical subspecies:[1]

Erythrolamprus aesculapii aesculapii (Linnaeus, 1758) - Amazon River Basin
Erythrolamprus aesculapii monozonus Jan, 1863 - Brazil (Bahia state to Rio de Janeiro state)
Erythrolamprus aesculapii tetrazonus Jan, 1863 - southwestern Bolivia
Erythrolamprus aesculapii venustissimus (Wied, 1821) - eastern Bolivia to southeastern Brazil and northeastern Argentina[3]

References

"Erythrolamprus aesculapii ". ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information Sysyem). www.itis.gov.
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. (Erthrolamprus æsculapii, pp. 200-204).
Freiberg M (1982). Snakes of South America. Hong Kong: T.F.H. Publications. 189 pp. ISBN 0-87666-912-7. (Erythrolamprus aesculapii, pp. 66, 98, 132 + photograph on p. 42 + line drawing of head scalation on p. 67).
Cole CJ, Townsend CR, Reynolds RP, MacCulloch RD, Lathrop A (2013). "Amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America: Illustrated keys, annotated species accounts, and a biogeographic synopsis". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 125: 317–620. doi:10.2988/0006-324x-125.4.317.
Erythrolamprus aesculapii at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 25 August 2014.
Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR (1978). Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. xi + 378 pp. ISBN 0-7167-0020-4. (Mimicry in Erythrolamprus, p. 159).