ROZE, 1958

It is of the Aniliidae family and it includes/understands a single species in the country that is described next:

Common name: False Coral.
Scientific name: Anilius scytale phelpsorum.
Typical locality: Auyantepuy, state Bolivar, Venezuela.
Geographic distribution: Venezuela and Brazil.
Distribution in Venezuela: East and the south of the country.

Description:

Head a little but narrows that the body and blunt snout. The body is cylindrical and the very short and conical tail. The eyes are small, On guard superior covered by a transparent scales of pentagonal form. There are 6 (3,4) supralabial scales and 6 infralabial ones.

The dorsal scales are small, hexagonal, smooth and without apica foseptsl. They are arranged in 21 rows in the middle of the body. The ventral grudges are a little greater than the ridges, vary of 207 to the 225 and subvolumes from 12 to 15, in a single row; anal, simple scale.

The colouration consists of the black and red ring succession, exclusively, that is continued in the belly of the animal. The black ring, in number from 37 to 49, occupies of three to four grudges of width. The red ring includes of 2 to 3 grudges of width and its number varies between 40 and 43.

The black ring in these snake is very irregular and many of them can be alternating or in the form of letters Y or H.

They take underground life and they are distinguished easily of the poisonous species of coral, so that they lack white ring or yellowish and they do not own eyeteeth able to inject venon.

Reference:

Kornacker, P. M. 1999. Checklist and key to the snakes of Venezuela / Lista sistemática y clave para las serpientes de Venezuela. PaKo-Verlag. 270 pp.

Lancini, A. R. 1979. Serpientes de Venezuela. Armitano Editores. 262 pp.

Lancini, A. R. y P.M. Kornacker. 1989. Die Schlagen von Venezuela. Armitano Editores. 381 pp.

Navarrete, L. F., J. C. López Johnston y A. Blanco Dávila. (s/f) 2006. Guía de las Serpientes de Venezuela Biología, venenos, conservación y checklist. Gráficas Lauki. 75 pp.