''Micrurus corallinus'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of highly

venomous Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

elapid Elapidae (, commonly known as elapids ; grc, ἔλλοψ ''éllops'' "sea-fish") is a family of snakes characterized by their permanently erect fangs at the front of the mouth. Most elapids are venomous, with the exception of the genus Emydoceph ...

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

native to South America (Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay). There are no recognized

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

Common names

Common names of this species include painted coral snake, ''cobra coral pintada'', ''mboi-chumbe'', ''vibora de coral'', ''boicora'', ''bocora'', ''coral-verdadeira'', ''ibiboboca'', and ''mboi-yvyvovo''.

Description and Behavior

The painted coral snake is a medium-sized tri-colored snake which can grow to , but most are closer to . It is a snake with nocturnal habits found on the coastlines, through leaves, on top of logs and stones, its diet is based on lizards, other snakes (including coluibrids), amphisbenids and gymnophils. The head color is black with a white or yellow back band, which narrows strongly in a dorsal shape, the bodies have wide red rings that are separated by a series of 15–27 (usually 17–21) by wide and narrow black rings and with white borders. The tail has 3 to 8 alternating black and yellow rings. They have a slim body, with a moderately short tail in the case of males and very short in the case of females, the head is round, small and a little distant from the neck. The eyes are slightly small with round pupils. It has smooth and shiny dorsal scales, without apical punctuation. The supra-anal keels are absent in males.

Distribution and habitat

Its range includes South America in Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Norte, Bahia, Santa Catarina, Espírito Santo), northeastern Argentina (Misiones), and Paraguay. It is mainly found in the

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

in tropical deciduous and evergreen forest at elevations ranging from sea level to 500 m.

Reproduction

Reproduction is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

, laying up to 15 eggs.

Venom

It is not aggressive towards humans, the group of coral snakes represents only 1% of accidents in Central and South America, however the venom produced by them is highly potent, with neurotoxic action, causing

neuromuscular A neuromuscular junction (or myoneural junction) is a chemical synapse between a motor neuron and a muscle fiber. It allows the motor neuron to transmit a signal to the muscle fiber, causing muscle contraction. Muscles require innervation t ...

block, which results in death from respiratory arrest, resulting from paralysis of the respiratory muscles. The

LD50 In toxicology, the median lethal dose, LD50 (abbreviation for "lethal dose, 50%"), LC50 (lethal concentration, 50%) or LCt50 is a toxic unit that measures the lethal dose of a toxin, radiation, or pathogen. The value of LD50 for a substance is the ...

for a 5–27 grams mouse is 0,007 mg. 0.2 mg/kg (intramuscular injection), 0.09 mg/kg (intraperitoneal) and 0.04 mg/kg (intravenous). The venom of this species is compound of the

three-finger toxin Three-finger toxins (abbreviated 3FTx) are a protein superfamily of small toxin proteins found in the venom of snakes. Three-finger toxins are in turn members of a larger superfamily of three-finger protein domains which includes non-toxic prote ...

families,

Phospholipase A2 The enzyme phospholipase A2 (EC 3.1.1.4, PLA2, systematic name phosphatidylcholine 2-acylhydrolase) catalyse the cleavage of fatty acids in position 2 of phospholipids, hydrolyzing the bond between the second fatty acid “tail” and the glyce ...

, L-amino acid oxidase, True venom lectin, SVMP (snake venom metalloproteinase), Kunitz-type inhibitor (Venom Kunitz-type), NGF (NGF -beta) and Waprin. The amount of venom extracted from this species is 3 mg. The venom of this species has presynaptic activity. ''M. corallinus'' has alpha-neurotoxins with pre-synaptic activity that causes a high and spontaneous release of acetylcholine associated with the postsynaptic block of the electrical transmission between the nerve and the muscle.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2703976 Corallinus Snakes of South America Reptiles of Brazil Reptiles of Argentina Reptiles of Paraguay Reptiles described in 1820 Taxa named by Blasius Merrem