Erythrolamprus

<i>Erythrolamprus</i>

Erythrolamprus

Genus of snakes

Erythrolamprus is a genus of colubrid snakes, commonly known as false coral snakes, native to Central America, the Caribbean, and the northern part of South America. They appear to be coral snake mimics.

Quick Facts Erythrolamprus, Scientific classification ...

Species

These species are currently recognized as being valid.[1]

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Erythrolamprus.

A juvenile Erythrolamprus typhlus, blind ground snake or velvet swamp snake
An adult Erythrolamprus typhlus

Mimicry

The brightly colored, ringed patterns of some of the 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.[4]

Cited references

  1. [1]
    "Erythrolamprus ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
  2. [2]
    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. (Genus Erythrolamprus, pp. 199-200).
  3. [3]
    Genus Erythrolamprus at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  4. [4]
    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).

Further reading

Wikispecies has information related to Erythrolamprus.
  • Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Liophis atraventer, p. 73; L. guentheri, p. 111; L. jaegeri, p. 132; l. juliae, p. 137; L. melanotus, p. 241; Umbrivaga mertensi, p. 176; Geophis pyburni, p. 213; Liophis williamsi, p. 286; L. reginae zweifeli, p. 294).
  • Wagler J[G] (1830). Natürliches System der AMPHIBIEN, mit vorangehender Classification der SAÜGTHIERE und VÖGEL. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Zoologie. Munich, Stuttgart, and Tübingen: J.G. Cotta. vi + 354 pp. (Erythrolamprus, new genus, p. 187). (in German and Latin).
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