Pliocercus elapoides

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.

Pliocercus elapoides
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Pliocercus
Species:
P. elapoides
Binomial name
Pliocercus elapoides
Cope, 1860
Synonyms[2]

Geographic range

P. elapoides is found in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and southeastern Mexico.[1][2]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of P. elapoides is forest.[1]

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.[2]

Behavior

P. elapoides is nocturnal, terrestrial and semi-fossorial.[1]

Reproduction

P. elapoides is oviparous.[2]

Subspecies

Four subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.[2]

  • Pliocercus elapoides aequalis Salvin, 1861
  • Pliocercus elapoides diastema (Bocourt, 1886)
  • Pliocercus elapoides elapoides Cope, 1860
  • Pliocercus elapoides occidentalis H.M. Smith & Landy, 1965

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Pliocercus.

References
  1. Lee, J.; Calderón Mandujano, R.; Lopez-Luna, M.A.; Luque, I.; Ariano, D. (2013). "Pliocercus elapoides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T63877A3130570. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. Species Pliocercus elapoides at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.

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.



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