Pliocercus elapoides explained
Pliocercus elapoides, also known commonly as the variegated false coral snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to southern North America and northern Central America. There are four recognized subspecies.
Geographic range
P. elapoides is found in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and southeastern Mexico.[1]
Habitat
The preferred natural habitat of P. elapoides is forest.
Description
Resembling a venomous coral snake, P. elapoides has a dorsal color pattern of red, black, and yellow rings. The red scales are tipped with black.[1]
Behavior
P. elapoides is nocturnal, terrestrial and semi-fossorial.
Reproduction
P. elapoides is oviparous.[1]
Subspecies
Four subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.[1]
- Pliocercus elapoides aequalis
- Pliocercus elapoides diastema
- Pliocercus elapoides elapoides
- Pliocercus elapoides occidentalis
Nota bene
A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Pliocercus.
Further reading
- Akcali, Christopher K. (2018). "Pliocercus elapoides (Variegated False Coralsnake). Defensive Behavior". Herpetological Review 49 (2): 351–352.
- Boulenger GA (1894). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I–XX. (Urotheca elapoides, new combination, pp. 182–183).
- Carbajal-Márquez, Rubén A.
- Quintero-Díaz, Gustavo E.; González-Saucedo, Zaira Y.; Martínez-de la Vega, Guillermo (2013). "Pliocercus elapoides (Variegated False Coralsnake). Reproduction / Clutch Size". Herpetological Review 44 (4): 697.
- Cope ED (1860). "Catalogue of the Colubridæ in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with notes and descriptions of new species. Part 2". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 12: 241–266. (Pliocercus elapoides, new species, pp. 253–254).
- Díaz-García, Juan Manuel; Kelly-Hernández, Alfonso; Vásquez-Cruz, Víctor (2022). "Depredación de Rheohyla miotympanum (Anura: Hylidae) por Pliocercus elapoides (Squamata: Colubridae) en el centro de Veracruz ". Revista Latinoamericana de Herpetología 5 (3): 1–4. (in Spanish).
- Smith HM, Chiszar D (2001). "Pliocercus elapoides Cope, Variegated False Coral Snake". Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (739): 1–11.
Notes and References
- www.reptile-database.org.
