Elapidae family

In Venezuela she is represented by the Coral snakes, grouped by two sorts:

Leptomicrurus and Micrurus.

Roman (1971) sinomy the sort Leptomicrurus and Micrurus, when demonstrating that the characters given by Schmidt (1937) for Leptomicrurus were not stable, nevertheless Roze (1996) and Campbell & Lamar (2004) recognized Leptomicrurus like valid sort.

All the members of the Elapidae family own teething proterogliph and are venomous. These snakes are in favor provided of eyeteeth and venomous glands and most dangerous and are feared snakes in the world (but not in Venezuela). Maxilar of these animal is relatively long in comparison with the viper ones, but short in comparison with the colubrith ones.

In the new world, the snakes of Coral are distributed from south-east and the southwestern of the United States, happening through Mexico, Central America and the majority of Suramérica, to Central Argentina. One is them in diverse habitats, in a rank from low, desert forests and high mountains until fog forests, its altitudinal distribution has ranks that vary from the level of the sea to about 3.000 M.s

At the moment they are located in three genus:
Micruroides; Leptomicrurus, with three species and Micrurus with almost 70 species. Some species do not reach the 50 cm, whereas other species can happen of 1,50 cm in length overall.

The majority of the Coral can show an erratic behavior when it is bothered to them, hiding its head below the body and flattening the later part of the tail, being similar the head using the tail.

The majority of the Corals is fed mainly on small serpents (especially colúbriths and typhlopids), but also feeds on small lizards and small amphibians. They are ovíparas and the females deposit until about seven eggs.

As far as the venon, all the serpents of Coral must be seen like potentially dangerous for the humans, since many species have been responsible for the death human beings.

Schmidt, 1937, were first in recognizing the natural differences of two species of Corals in South america that presented/displayed his first reduced pairs of infralabial of size, not making contact with enemy with the ventral power station, allowing contact with the mental one and a pair of scales.

The majority of these thin snakes of Coral, owns a distinguishing landlord of off-white, yellow color or red ventral points or black uniform except L. renjifoi. which completely is fastened with rings are off-white, yellowish in almost all the body becoming orange to reddish the tail.

The Micrurus genus includes the great majority of the venomous snakes of Coral, who distinguishes itself by the following characters: a pair of tiny, hollow eyeteeth that inject venon, that is implanted in maxilar concerning the second supralabial scale; oval rome head or, not differentiated from the neck and with small eyes of circular pupils; smooth and great scales of the head. The fine and cylindrical body; short tail or conical or pointed median. The dorsal scales of the Micrurus are smooth, without fosetas apical and are prepared in 15-15 rows.

The venomous Corals, almost always, are of small size (around 50 to 70 cms.) nevertheless exist species with greater length. In Benjamin Constant (Amazon, Brazil) a unit of Micrurus spixi spixi was collected that measured 1.25 meters, that are deposited in the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro.

The Micrurus is of diurnal habits and vespertine and even nocturnes, live hidden enters cracks, and rotted trunks, vegetal sweepings and occasionally, can also be found within the water in small sewers and wells them. Although species adapted to the life in places exist droughts and warm, the majority of them prefers the humid and selváticas zones. The diverse species of the sort are distributed from the level of the sea to about 2,500 meters of altitude.

Although they own a mortal venon for the Man and the animal, the Coral snakes are tame but nervous, and rarely they try to open his small mouth to bite. Therefore, the accidents brought about by these reptiles are extremely rare, although almost always mortal.

When these snakes get ready to attack not " arman" On guard spiral, like the majority of the venomous ones, but they squash part of the belly and the tail, coiling this last one in a small flat spiral and moving with short and abrupt shocks.

In Venezuela they have been located, until the present, 18 species and subspecies only one species belongs to the Leptomicrurus sort (Leptomicrurus collaris breviventris), all the others belong to I generate Micrurus.

References:

Campbell, J. A. and W. W. Lamar. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Cornell University Press. 1032 pp.

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

Roze, J. A., 1996. Coral snakes of the Americas - Bibliography, identification, and venoms. Kreiger, Malabar, Fla. 328 pp.