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Home/Species/ Harlequin Coralsnake

Micrurus fulvius

(Linnaeus, 1766)

Harlequin Coralsnake

G5Secure Found in 4 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
MediumThreat Impact
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104183
Element CodeARADC02010
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicendemic to a single nation
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassReptilia
OrderSquamata
FamilyElapidae
GenusMicrurus
Synonyms
Micrurus fulvius fulvius(Linnaeus, 1766)
Other Common Names
harlequin coralsnake (EN)
Concept Reference
Collins, J. T. 1990. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles. 3rd ed. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular No. 19. 41 pp.
Taxonomic Comments
Micrurus tener formerly was included as a subspecies of M. fulvius. Crother et al. (2000), Collins and Taggart (2002), and Campbell and Lamar (2004) recognized M. tener and M. fulvius as distinct species.

Phylogenetic relationships of elapid snakes based on mtDNA data indicate that New World coralsnakes cluster with Asian coralsnakes (Slowinski and Keogh 2000).

Slowinski (1995) presented morphological and biochemical data supporting separation of the genera Micrurus and Micruroides. Castoe et al. (2007) found that Micruroides was the sister taxon to the remainder of the sampled New World Micrurus.
Conservation Status
Review Date2006-09-07
Change Date1997-01-08
Edition Date2006-09-07
Edition AuthorsHammerson, G.
Threat ImpactMedium
Range Extent200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)
Number of Occurrences81 - 300
Rank Reasons
Secure in fairly large range in the southeastern United Staes; even where fairly common may appear to be scarce due to secretive habits.
Range Extent Comments
Southeastern North Carolina to southern Florida, west to southeastern Louisiana, disjunctly northward to central Alabama (Ashton and Ashton 1981, Mount 1975, Dundee and Rossman 1989, Palmer and Braswell 1995, Tennant 1997, Campbell and Lamar 2004).
Occurrences Comments
This species is represented by a large number of occurrences (subpopulations). On a range-wide scale, Campbell and Lamar (2004) mapped more than 100 collection sites.
Threat Impact Comments
Overall, this species does not appear to be significantly threatened. In Alabama, populations declined after introduction of the fire ant, which may prey on eggs and young (Mount 1981). Habitat destruction and motorized vehicles are the most serious threats (Ernst 1992, Ernst and Ernst 2003).
Ecology & Habitat

Description

VENOMOUS. A banded red, yellow, and black snake in which the red and yellow bands are contiguous; red bands may have black spots; snout is black, bordered posteriorly by a yellow band across the head; dorsal scales are smooth and occur in 15 rows; each maxilla bears a short, permanently erect hollow fang; total length of adults usually is 51-76 cm (maximum 122 cm) (Ernst and Barbour 1989, Conant and Collins 1991).

Habitat

Habitats include hardwood forest, pine-oak woodland, pine flatwoods, and xerophytic scrub, often in areas with sandy soils, sometimes marsh edges and residential areas (Mount 1975, Ashton and Ashton 1981, Palmer and Braswell 1995, Tennant 1997, Ernst and Ernst 2003). This secretive snake is often underground, under leaf litter, logs or stumps, or similarly secluded. Eggs probably are laid in loose soil or decaying organic matter (Mount 1975), or underground or under leaf litter or surface objects (Ernst 1992).

Reproduction

Mating occurs in spring and possibly also in fall (Ernst 1992). Lays clutch of 2-13 (often 4-7) eggs, May or June to July; eggs hatch in late summer or fall, after about 10-13 weeks of incubation; males sexually mature in 11-21 months, females in about 21-27 months (Jackson and Franz 1981, Behler and King 1979, Ernst and Barbour 1989).
Terrestrial Habitats
Forest - HardwoodForest - ConiferForest - MixedWoodland - HardwoodWoodland - ConiferWoodland - MixedShrubland/chaparralSavanna
Palustrine Habitats
Riparian
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN5
ProvinceRankNative
GeorgiaS3Yes
LouisianaSHYes
MississippiS3Yes
South CarolinaS2Yes
AlabamaS3Yes
FloridaS4Yes
North CarolinaS1Yes
Threat Assessments
ThreatScopeSeverityTiming
1 - Residential & commercial development——High (continuing)
1.1 - Housing & urban areas——High (continuing)
8 - Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases——High (continuing)
8.1 - Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases——High (continuing)

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Roadless Areas (4)
Florida (4)
AreaForestAcres
Alexander Springs CreekOcala National Forest2,954
Gum BayApalachicola National Forest11,645
Long BayApalachicola National Forest5,726
Natural Area WsaOsceola National Forest2,543
References (17)
  1. Ashton, R. E., Jr., and P. S. Ashton. 1981. Handbook of reptiles and amphibians of Florida. Part One: The Snakes. Windward Publishing Company, Miami, Florida. 176 pp.
  2. Campbell, J. A., and W. W. Lamar. 2004. The venomous reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. 2 volumes. Cornell University Press.
  3. Castoe, T. A., E. N. Smith, R. M. Brown, and C. L. Parkinson. 2007. Higher-level phylogeny of Asian and American coralsnakes, their placement within the Elapidae (Squamata), and the systematic affinities of the enigmatic Asian coralsnake <i>Hemibungarus calligaster</i>. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 151(4):809-831.
  4. Collins, J. T. 1990. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles. 3rd ed. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular No. 19. 41 pp.
  5. Collins, J. T., and T. W. Taggart. 2002. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians, turtles, reptiles, & crocodilians. Fifth edition. Publication of The Center for North American Herpetology, Lawrence, Kansas. iv + 44 pp.
  6. Crother, B. I. (editor). 2008. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. Sixth edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles Herpetological Circular 37:1-84. Online with updates at: http://www.ssarherps.org/pages/comm_names/Index.php
  7. Crother, B. I. (editor). 2012. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. 7th edition. SSAR Herpetological Circular 39:1-92.
  8. Crother, B. I. (editor). 2017. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. 8th edition. SSAR Herpetological Circular 43:1-104. [Updates in SSAR North American Species Names Database at: https://ssarherps.org/cndb]
  9. Crother, B. I., J. Boundy, J. A. Campbell, K. de Queiroz, D. R. Frost, R. Highton, J. B. Iverson, P. A. Meylan, T. W. Reeder, M. E. Seidel, J. W. Sites, Jr., T. W. Taggart, S. G. Tilley, and D. B. Wake. 2000 [2001]. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Herpetological Circular No. 29. 82 pp.
  10. Dundee, H. A., and D. A. Rossman. 1989. The amphibians and reptiles of Louisiana. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge.
  11. Ernst, C. H. 1992. Venomous reptiles of North America. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. ix + 236 pp.
  12. Ernst, C. H., and E. M. Ernst. 2003. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C.
  13. Mount, R. H. 1975. The reptiles and amphibians of Alabama. Auburn University Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn, Alabama. vii + 347 pp.
  14. Mount, R. H. 1981. The red imported fire ant, <i>Solenopsis invicta </i>(Hymenoptera: Formicidae) as a possible serious predator on some native southeastern vertebrates: direct observations and subjective impressions. Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science 52:71-78.
  15. Palmer, W. M., and A. L. Braswell. 1995. Reptiles of North Carolina. North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
  16. Slowinski, J. B., and J. S. Keogh. 2000. Phylogenetic relationships of elapid snakes based on cytochrome b mtDNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 15:157-164.
  17. Tennant, A. 1997. A field guide to snakes of Florida. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas. xiii + 257 pp.