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ZOOLOGICAL SERIES

OF
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Volume XX CHICAGO, DECEMBER 11, 1933 Pages 29-40

PRELIMINARY ACCOUNT OF THE CORAL SNAKES
OF CENTRAL AMERICA AND MEXICO

BY KARL P. SCHMIDT

ASSISTANT CURATOR OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES

The identification of three coral snakes collected by Leon L.
Walters and myself in Honduras in 1923 has involved me in a
comprehensive study of the genus Micrurus. This has proved to
be far more difficult than could be foreseen; it has been greatly
retarded by the dearth of collections from critical regions, and has
been repeatedly interrupted by other duties. Thanks to a John
Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in 1932, I was able to
return to work on this genus in connection with other Central
American studies in European museums. The examination of a
majority of the types and of additional collections of these snakes
abroad, has cleared up a considerable proportion of the outstanding
problems. In spite of the remaining taxonomic difficulties, which
can be solved only by additional collections, especially from southern
Mexico, I venture to present a preliminary account of the studies.

The list of friends and colleagues, both American and European,
who have aided by the loan of specimens in their charge or by
enabling me to study in their laboratories is so long that its enumera-
tion is postponed for more extended papers in preparation.

Mexican and Central American specimens which have passed
through my hands number 353, of which 153 are in European collec-
tions and 200 in American. The types of eighteen of the twenty-
two previously described species have been examined. Six new
forms are described in the present paper.

The genus Micrurus is characterized by great uniformity of
arrangement of the head shields and the number of dorsal scale
rows. It becomes, therefore, the more necessary to scrutinize the
taxonomic characters available. One of the first results of this
critique is to affirm the constancy and value of the color pattern
characters. It becomes evident, furthermore, that the characters
employed require renewed critical evaluation for every species. For

No. 324

TBEtWYnFTflE

FE326E

30 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XX

example, the contact between the mental shield and the anterior
chin-shields, which is a constant character in Micrurus narduccii,
is obviously an anomaly in other species. Unfortunately, Boulenger's
use of this character, in his synopsis of the genus in 1896, led him
to give it an undue importance, and to describe specimens of Micrurus
mipartitus, M. ancoralis, and M. pyrrhocryptus as "new species";
and my brother and I, influenced by his practice, based our M.
helleri from Peru on a specimen of M. lemniscatus which exhibits
the same fortuitous character. The converse, obviously, may be
equally true. It is repeatedly found that characters which appear
as anomalies in various species may be constant specific characters
in others. Thus the temporal formula 1-2 appears throughout the
genus in species with temporals normally 1-1; but in M. affinis
affinis 25 per cent of the males have temporals 1-2, and in M. a.
mayensis this rises to 83 per cent and is the normal arrangement.
Similarly, entire caudals appear with varying frequency, though
unknown in many species; while M. spixii invariably has a low
number of undivided caudals, and M. affinis mayensis has, on the
average, more than half the caudals undivided.

I have already called attention to the interesting secondary sex
character of supra-anal knobs or tubercles in adult males of Micrurus
nigrocinctus. This character proves to be a veritable key to the
confusion of the Mexican and Central American forms, which can
be sorted into two valid groups according to its presence or absence.

Strong sex dimorphism in the number of ventrals and subcaudals
is frequent in coral snakes, perhaps reaching an extreme in the
nigrocinctus series. Recognition of this dimorphism reveals two
entirely unsuspected subspecies. Micrurus nigrocinctus mosquitensis
has ventrals 182-194 in males and 203-209 in females; in M. n.
nigrocinctus the scale counts in males, 194-223, fill the gap between
male and female mosquitensis, and the female ventral range, 208-231,
is also much higher, so that the ventral count of female mosquitensis
falls between the male and female of nigrocinctus nigrocinctus. The
relation between the geographically distinct Micrurus elegans elegans
and M. e. verae-pacis is similar.

The widest geographic gap in the coral snakes of Mexico and
Central America is between M. fulvius tenere of northern Tamaulipas,
and M. affinis affinis of Vera Cruz. This gap may be due merely
to the want of collections from the intervening 300 miles; but in
the absence of specimens I have dropped altogether the presumptive
relation between M. fulvius and the Mexican forms which has been

.
1933 CORAL SNAKES — SCHMIDT 31

current since Boulenger's revision of the genus in 1896 in the
"Catalogue of Snakes."

In arriving at the present arrangement of the specimens examined,
I have been unable to allocate satisfactorily a number of Mexican
specimens without locality; but the specimens with locality data
have fallen so satisfactorily into definable groups that I feel confident
that this residuum of unidentifiable specimens will fall into place
when central and southern Mexico are more adequately explored
for these creatures.

That analysis and not synthesis is the more productive method
of study in this genus becomes clearer with every additional collec-
tion examined. A few widely scattered specimens present a picture of
hopelessly irregular variability; but as representative collections
from connected geographic areas become available, uniform
characters appear. These uniform populations are the basic taxo-
nomic units. The breaking up of Micrurus into numerous species
and subspecies is in accordance with expectation for subterranean
forms of such limited vagility.

Micrurus mipartitus (DumeYil and Bibron).

Elaps mipartilus Dumeril and Bibron, Erpetol. Gen., 7, p. 1220, 1854.
Elaps multifasciatus Jan, Rev. Mag. Zool., 1858, p. 521, 1858.
Elaps hertwigi Werner, Verb. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, 76, p. 354, 1896.

Type locality, — Rio Sucio, Colombia.

The range of variation in number of both ventrals and subcaudals
in Central American specimens is within the extremes of Colombian
and Venezuelan specimens, and I do not find it feasible to partition
this species into subspecies. Most specimens of mipartitus assort
into sex groups with widely distinct ranges of ventral plates, but
aberrant males with a high number of ventrals and females with a
low number connect these groups.

Range. — Central Nicaragua to Peru and Venezuela.

Micrurus dunni Barbour.

Micrurus dunni Barbour, Occ. Papers Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich., 129, p. 15,

1923.
Type locality. — Ancon, Canal Zone, Panama.

This species, the only one in Panama with the black rings arranged
in triads, is very closely allied to M. melanogenys of the Santa Marta
region in Colombia.

Range. — Eastern Panama to the Canal Zone.

THE LIBRARY CF Ti
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32 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY— ZOOLOGY, VOL. XX
Micrurus elegans elegans (Jan).

Elaps elegans Jan, Rev. Mag. Zool., 1858, p. 524, 1858.

Type locality. — Mexico.

This species, with its complicated and remarkably invariable
color pattern of triads of black rings, in which the central one is set
off from the outer by double rows of yellow scales, is not closely
allied to any other species in the genus. Well-defined supra-anal
keels are present in adult males. As is shown below, elegans, sensu
lat. can be partitioned into two fully distinct and geographically
well-separated subspecies.

Range. — Vera Cruz to Tabasco, Mexico.

Micrurus elegans verae-pacis subsp. nov.

Type from Campur, Alta Vera Paz, Guatemala. No. 2247a
Zoologische Sammlung des Bayerischen Staates, Munich, Germany.
Adult male. Collected, 1899, by Karl Sapper.

Diagnosis. — A coral snake with black, yellow, and red rings,
arranged as in M. e. elegans; ventrals and caudals more numerous
in both sexes than in e. elegans, as follows:

V.P. rf1 V.P. 9 C. & C. 9

Micrurus e. elegans 188-195 206-211 40-43 29-31

Micrurus e. verae-pacis 208-212 220-228 46-49 33-37

The number of triads of black rings is also somewhat greater in
verae-pacis.

Paratypes. — Zoologische Staatssammlung, Munich, Nos. 2245,
2247b, 2248 (three specimens), and 2249 (two specimens); British
Museum, two specimens from low forest, Vera Paz; Museum
d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, one specimen from Alta Vera Paz; and
Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel, a specimen from Vera Paz.

Range. — Alta Vera Paz, Guatemala.

Micrurus steward Barbour and Amaral.

Micrurus stewarti Barbour and Amaral, Bull. Antivenin Inst. Amer., 1, p.
100, 1928.

Type locality. — Sierra de Bruja, Panama.

This recently described form is known only from the single type
specimen. Its color pattern of black bands alternately longer and
shorter is derived from the pattern with black, yellow, and red rings
by the invasion of the red rings with black pigment, as may be
seen in various stages in M. fulvius tenere, M. ephippifer, and
especially in M. psyches and its allies.

Range. — Sierra de Bruja, Panama.

1933 CORAL SNAKES— SCHMIDT 33

Micrurus nigrocinctus nigrocinctus (Girard).

Elaps nigrocinctus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, p. 226, 1854.
Elaps melanocephalus Hallowell, idem, 1860, p. 485, 1860.

Type locality. — Taboga Island, Bay of Panama.

The group of species with prominent supra-anal tubercles in
adult males is represented in Panama and on the Pacific coasts of
Costa Rica and Nicaragua by this form, which combines a high
number of ventral scales with uniformly black spotted scales in the
red zones; it is distinguished by the former character from its nearest
geographical ally, M. n. mosquitensis, in northwestern Panama, and
by the latter from M. n. divaricatus of northeastern Nicaragua and
Honduras.

Range. — Panama Canal Zone, southwestern Panama, Pacific
slopes of Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Micrurus nigrocinctus mosquitensis subsp. nov.

Type from Limon, Costa Rica. No. 19741 Museum of Com-
parative Zoology. Adult male. Collected, 1924, by Samuel Kress.

Diagnosis. — A coral snake with black, yellow, and red rings, not
arranged in triads; supra-anal tubercles strongly developed in males;
ventrals 182-194 in males, 203-209 in females; black rings 4-6
ventrals wide, 10 to 19 on the body, averaging 12 in males and
13 in females; black caudal rings 4-7 in males, 3-4 in females; yellow
zones well developed ; scales in red zones uniformly tipped with black.

Differs from M. n. nigrocinctus in its lower number of ventrals,
lower number of black rings, and broader yellow zones; from M. n.
divaricatus by the lower ventral count and the uniform distribution
of black in the red zones.

Paratypes. — Museum of Comparative Zoology Nos. 9548, 9570,
17087, 19333, 19742, 20449, and 22211-12; United States National
Museum Nos. 9784, 19553, 30624-5, 30627-8, and 37345; American
Museum of Natural History Nos. 5916, 12702, 17293, and 17365;
British Museum Nos. 94.10.1.38, 95.4.29.10-11, 95.2.20.10, 68.9.21.1,
and 68.9.21.4; Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Nos. 1889 and
1901.23e; Senckenbergisches Museum, one San Jos£ specimen; and
California Academy of Sciences, collector's No. 183.

Range. — Atlantic slopes of western Panama, Costa Rica, and
southern Nicaragua.

Micrurus nigrocinctus divaricatus (Hallowell).

Elaps divaricatus Hallowell, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., (2), 3, p. 36, 1855.

34 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY— ZOOLOGY, VOL. XX

Closely allied to M. n. nigrocinctus and M. n. mosquitensis,
differing from the former in having the black in the red zones irregu-
larly distributed and in having broader yellow rings; and from the
latter in the black pigment character and higher number of ventrals.
The ventrals range from 195 to 210 in males, and from 207 to 220
in females; the black bands average 16 in males and 18 in females,
ranging from 11 to 26.

Range. — Northeastern Nicaragua and northern Honduras and
lowland eastern Guatemala.

Micrurus nigrocinctus zunilensis Schmidt.

Micrurus nigrocinctus zunilensis Schmidt, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., (4), 20,
p. 266, 1932.

Type locality. — Finca El Cipres, lower slopes of Volcan Zunil,
Suchetepequez, Guatemala.

This form, characterized by the great reduction and usually
complete absence of black pigment in the red zones, and by the
reduction or absence of the yellow rings, is known from numerous
specimens from the Pacific slopes of Guatemala. Its range has not
been traced to that of either M. n. nigrocinctus or M. n. divaricatus,
for the coral snakes of the Pacific slope of Honduras and of Salvador
are unknown. The ventrals range from 196 to 223 in males and from
211 to 224 in females.

Range. — Pacific slope of Guatemala.

Micrurus ruatanus (Giinther).

Elaps ruatanus Giinther, Biologia Centrali-Americana, Kept., p. 185, pi.
57, fig. B, 1895.

Type locality. — Ruatan Island, Bay Islands, Honduras.

Although clearly allied to the nigrocinctus group by its supra-
anal tubercles, this form is sharply distinguished by its high number
of black bands, 34 to 45, which are approximately equal to the
intervening light rings. The ventral counts do not overlap those
of M. n. divaricatus, its nearest mainland representative, but cor-
respond closely to those of M. n. mosquitensis. It seems to me
preferable to retain full specific status for this form.

The black rings are alternately wider and narrower, and the
narrower rings are frequently interrupted on the sides. The light
rings are apparently red, and I interpret these alternate black rings
of ruatanus as homologous with the accessory black rings of Micrurus

1933 CORAL SNAKES — SCHMIDT 35

affinis apiatus. In male specimens there are from 5 to 12 undivided
subcaudals, average 9.

Range. — Known only from Ruatan Island, Bay Islands, Honduras.

Micrurus latifasciatus sp. nov.

Type from Finca El Cipres, Volcan Zunil, Suchetepequez, Guate-
mala. No. 22135 Museum of Comparative Zoology. Adult female.
Collected, 1925, by A. W. Anthony.

Diagnosis. — A coral snake with black, yellow, and red rings;
well-developed supra-anal tubercles in adult males; black rings few,
6 to 9, and broad, covering 6 to 11 ventrals; red rings very broad,
covering 17 to 26 ventrals; scales in red rings uniformly black-spotted ;
yellow rings well developed; black rings on tail 2-3; temporals in-
variably 1-1; very rarely a few caudals entire; ventrals 192-197 in
males, caudals 50-55; 204-214 and 40-46 in females.

Closely allied to the nigrocinctus group, but apparently specifi-
cally distinct and within the range of M. n. zunilensis; no other
coral snake has such broad black and red zones. Its nearest ally
may prove to be M. nuchalis of Oaxaca.

Paratypes. — Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel, Nos. 2290, 2292-
6, and 2311; Senckenbergisches Museum No. 9424c (three specimens) ;
Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, No. 4614d (two specimens);
American Museum of Natural History Nos. 17368 and 45091; United
States National Museum No. 20637; Museum of Comparative
Zoology No. 22133; Stanford University No. 4077; and Zoologische
Staatssammlung, Munich, No. 2263.

Range. — Pacific slope of Guatemala.

Micrurus nuchalis sp. nov.

Type from Tapanatepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. No. 27830 Museum
of Comparative Zoology. Adult female. Collected Nov. 7, 1927,
by W. W. Brown.

Diagnosis.— A coral snake with black, yellow, and red rings, the
black rings not arranged in triads, or with a narrow black accessory
ring bordering the red zones next to the yellow; supra-anal tubercles
distinct in males; ventrals 201-208, caudals 40-51 in males, 203-209
and 37-40 in females; temporals invariably 1-1; no entire caudals
recorded; black bands few, 8 to 9 in both sexes, 2-3 ventrals wide;
nuchal black ring much broader; black bands on tail 2-3; scales in
red zones heavily and uniformly black-spotted.

Apparently allied to M. latifasciatus of the Pacific slope of Guate-
mala; the coral snakes of Chiapas are unknown. It is the western-

36 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY— ZOOLOGY, VOL. XX

most and northernmost species with supra-anal tubercles, and
overlaps the range of the very distinct M. ephippifer, which,
however, is only known from females.

Paratypes. — Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, three specimens
from Cacoprieto, Mexico; Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris,
Nos. 4612a (two specimens) and 4622a.

Range. — Oaxaca, Mexico.

Micrurus affinis affinis Jan.

Elaps diastema (part) Dumeril and Bibron, Erpetol. Gen., 7, p. 1222, 1854.
Maps affinis Jan, Rev. Mag. Zool., 1858, p. 525, 1858.

Elaps hippocrepis Peters, Monatsber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1861, p. 925, 1861.
Elaps corallinus var. crebripunctatus Peters, idem, 1869, p. 877, 1869.

Type locality. — Mexico.

Micrurus affinis was based on two specimens from Mexico in the
Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris (No. 4624). These specimens
agree in every detail with the very distinct race of coral snakes found
in southern Vera Cruz and adjacent Tabasco, characterized by
absence of supra-anal tubercles in males, narrow black rings covering
one to three ventrals, and red ventrals with small black spots some-
times regularly paired on each ventral plate; ventrals 192-207 and
caudals 42-55 in males, 206-221 and 33-41 in females.

Micrurus crebripunctatus (Peters) is an exact synonym. A few
specimens from British Honduras differ from the above diagnosis
in the absence of ventral black spots, and they overlap the range of
M. a. stantoni. Their interpretation depends on further studies of
habitat and range in these forms. Micrurus hippocrepis (Peters) is
tentatively referred here.

Micrurus diastema (Dume>il and Bibron) was based in part on
this form, but is restricted in the present paper to the west Mexican
coral snake, which corresponds much better with the description.

Range. — Vera Cruz and adjacent Puebla to British Honduras
and northern Guatemala.

Micrurus affinis stantoni subsp. nov.

Type from Belize, British Honduras. No. 4201 Field Museum
of Natural History. Adult male. Collected by W. A. Stanton, S. J.

Diagnosis. — A coral snake with black, yellow, and red rings,
the black not arranged in triads; no supra-anal tubercles in males;
black rings 21-28; a considerable proportion of undivided sub-
caudals (3-26 in 13 out of 22 specimens) ; more than 50 per cent of

1933 CORAL SNAKES — SCHMIDT 37

the specimens have temporals 1-2; ventrals 199-213 and caudals
43-57 in males, 218-226 and 32-43 in females; black rings tending
to be open ventrad.

Allied in temporal and subcaudal characters to the adjacent
M. a. mayensis, it is distinguished by the much larger number of
black rings. Allied also to M. a. affinis in the other direction.

Paratypes. — Field Museum of Natural History Nos. 4202-4 and
4254; British Museum Nos. Cc and Cd (specimens from Belize
collected by O. Salvin and J. Gegg) and 1890.9.8.5; United States
National Museum Nos. 16398, 56611, and 71784; Museum d'Histoire
Naturelle, Paris, Nos. 4614 and 4614 J; Museum of Comparative
Zoology Nos. 8202 and 19970; one specimen in the Naturhistorisches
Museum, Vienna (without number); and Museum of Zoology,
University of Michigan, No. 73228.

Range. — Campeche to British Honduras.

Micrurus affinis mayensis subsp. nov.

Type from Chichen Itza, Yucatan. No. 31872 Museum of Com-
parative Zoology. Adult male. Collected March 17, 1930, by Dr.
George H. Shattuck.

Diagnosis. — A coral snake with black, yellow, and red rings, the
black not disposed in triads; no supra-anal tubercles in the male;
a large proportion of the subcaudals undivided ; temporals normally
1-2; black bands 3 to 5 ventrals in width, 10-18 on body, 3-6 on
tail; yellow rings present; red scales uniformly tipped with black;
ventrals 195-203 in males, 211-218 in females; tip of snout occa-
sionally light; yellow band across parietals frequently constricted
by encroachment of the black from both sides.

Allied to M . affinis stantoni, from which it differs most conspicu-
ously in the low number of the black bands.

Paratypes. — Museum of Comparative Zoology Nos. 7247, 28749,
31871, and 31873-4; Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan,
Nos. 73057-8; American Museum of Natural History Nos. 7865
and 38825; United States National Museum No. 46562; Academy
of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, No. 18258; and British Museum
No. 1880.7.13.6.

Range. — Yucatan, Mexico.

Micrurus affinis apiatus (Jan).

Elaps apiatus Jan, Rev. Mag. Zool., 1858, p. 522, 1858.

Elaps aglaeope Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, p. 344, 1859.

Elaps guatemalensis Ahl, Zool. Anz., 70, p. 251, 1927.

38 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XX

Type locality. — Vera Paz, Guatemala.

This subspecies is one of the most distinct of the Central American
forms, characterized by absence of supra-anal tubercles, large number
of black rings (30-60), and a square light spot on the tip of the
snout. The type locality, given as Vera Cruz by Jan, is a lapsus
for Vera Paz, as is shown by examination of the type in the Museum
d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, collected by Morelet. The ventrals
are 202-217 and the caudals 49-56 in males, 218-229 and 3&-43 in
females. M. guatemaknsis (Ahl) is an exact synonym, and M.
aglaeope Cope, from Honduras, is probably also to be placed here,
though very few specimens are as yet available from that country.

Range. — Alta Vera Paz, Guatemala, and highland of Honduras.

Micrurus fitzingeri (Jan).

Elaps fitzingeri Jan, Rev. Mag. ZooL, 1858, p. 521, 1858.

Type locality. — Mexico.

Without examination of the types of this form, I am unable to
reach a satisfactory conclusion as to its relations or geographic
range. The head scaling and scale count agree most nearly with
the affinis group. One of the cotypes of this species was said to be
from the Vienna Museum. It is not now discoverable there.

Range. — Unknown, probably southern Mexico.

Micrurus ephippifer (Cope).

Elaps ephippifer Cope, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., 23, p. 281, 1886.

Type locality. — Pacific side of Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico.

Three females from Oaxaca, including the type of Elaps ephippifer,
agree in having a high number of ventrals, 225-232, and a very
characteristic color pattern, the red zones being entirely occupied
by black pigment dorsally, while remaining red on the ventral
surface. The broad black dorsal saddles are separated from the
normal black rings by rather broad yellow zones. Without male
specimens it is impossible to place this form in its proper relation-
ship; but the only other form known from Oaxaca, M. nuchalis,
has ventrals 203-209 in females and 8 to 9 black rings on the body
instead of 18 to 20 in the present form.

Range. — Oaxaca, Mexico.

Micrurus diastema diastema (Dume>il and Bibron).

Elaps diastema (part) Dumeril and Bibron, Erpetol. Gen., 7, p. 1222, 1854.
Elaps epistema Dumeril and Bibron, idem, p. 1222, 1854.
Elaps diastema var. michoacanensis Duges, La Naturaleza, (2), 1, p. 487, pi. 32,
1891.

1933 CORAL SNAKES — SCHMIDT 39

Type locality. — Mexico (here restricted to Colima).

This form is defined and restricted to include the west Mexican
coral snakes in which the black rings tend to disappear either by
reduction in number, by loss of the ventral portion, or by constriction
of the black on the sides, with ventrals 191 to 210 in males and 207
to 220 in females. The species is based on three cotypes in the
Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris; one of these, No. 4620, is
clearly a west Mexican specimen, conforming with this series in
detail, and this specimen is now selected as a lectotype, and the
type locality restricted to Colima. Micrurus epistema (Dume'ril
and Bibron) thus becomes a strict synonym, for it is based on a
specimen in which the rings are reduced to dorsal spots, and this is
the condition in three specimens definitely from Colima, and in six
of the twelve specimens referred here.

Reduction of the black rings to spots in coral snakes is known
from other areas, notably in Micrurus bernadi (Cope), known only
from a single specimen from Hidalgo, and in M. sapperi (Werner),
based on a Guatemalan specimen without definite locality. I have
seen a specimen of this nature from Lancetilla, Honduras, from the
center of the range of M. nigrocinctus divaricatus, and regard sapperi
as based on a similar anomalous specimen of this race. M. diastema
michoacanensis (Duges) is very inadequately described. Until the
Mexican coral snakes become better known, it may be placed here.

Range. — Western Mexico from Nayarit to Oaxaca.

Micrurus diastema distans (Kennicott).

Elaps distans Kennicott, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, p. 338, 1860.

Type locality. — Batosegatchie, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Specimens of Micrurus from Sinaloa agree excellently with
Kennicott's type from Batosegatchie, southwestern Chihuahua,
and are distinguished from the Colima form by a higher number of
ventrals. These range from 208 to 216 in males, and from 222 to
225 in females. The number of black rings varies from 10 to 14.
There are no supra-anal tubercles. There is a tendency to constric-
tion of the black rings at the sides of the body as in diastema.

Range. — Sinaloa to southern Sonora and the Pacific drainage of
Chihuahua, Mexico.

Micrurus laticollaris (Peters).

Elaps marcgravii var. laticollaris Peters, Monatsber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1869,
p. 877, 1869.

Type locality. — Southern Mexico, probably Puebla.

40 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY— ZOOLOGY, VOL. XX

Though known only from the three cotypes, this species cannot
be placed with any of the other known Mexican forms. The black
rings are arranged in triads, which number 6 to 8; in these the
central black ring is separated from the accessory rings by a broad
yellow zone. Supra-anal tubercles are entirely wanting in the
large male cotype.

Range. — Southern Mexico.

Micrurus bernadi Cope.

Elaps bernadi Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 32, p. 87, 1887.

Type locality. — Zacualtipan, Hidalgo, Mexico.

The single specimen on which this species is based comes from
Zacualtipan, Hidalgo, the northernmost record in eastern Mexico
for a coral snake, south of the range of M.fulvius tenere in Tamaulipas.
It is possible that the coloration of this specimen, in which the black
rings are reduced to a series of dorsal spots, is an individual anomaly.
It is not at all unlikely, however, that bernadi may prove to be a
valid form even if this color pattern should not prove to be distinctive.

Range. — Zacualtipan, Hidalgo, Mexico.

Micrurus fulvius tenere (Baird and Girard).

Elaps tenere Baird and Girard, Cat. N. A. Kept., p. 22, 1853.

Type locality.— San Pedro of Rio Grande and New Braunfels,
Texas.

This western subspecies of M. fulvius is characterized by very
irregular distribution of the more profuse black spotting of the red
zones. In typical fulvius the black spots in the red zones are usually
concentrated into a pair of good-sized black spots.

Range. — Mississippi to northern Tamaulipas, Mexico.

REFERENCES

SCHMIDT, KARL P. and SCHMIDT, F. J. W.

1925. New Coral Snakes from Peru. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 12,
pp. 127-134, pis. 11-12.

SCHMIDT, KARL P.

1928. Notes on American Coral Snakes. Bull. Antivenin Inst. Amer., 2,
pp. 63-64.

1932. A New Subspecies of Coral Snake from Guatemala. Proc. Calif. Acad.
Sci., (4), 20, pp. 265-267.

1932a. Stomach Contents of Some American Coral Snakes, with the Descrip-
tion of a New Species of Geophis. Copeia, 1932, pp. 6-9.

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