The Amazonian slopes of the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, eastward across the upper portion of the Amazon Basin to the Guiana highlands and the upper Orinoco region from eastern Colombia through southern Venezuela eastward including Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, as well as most of Brazil north of the Amazon in the states of Amazonas, Roraima, Rondonia, and Amapá. It occurs on both sides of the Amazon in Pará (Brazil).
Type: Destroyed, formerly at MSNG according to golay et al., 1993, Endogly. Venom. Snakes World 478pp.[170].
Type-locality: Colombia
Two subspecies, namely M. h. hemprichii (Jan, 1858) and M. h. ortoni Schmidt, 1953, were recognized by Roze, 1983.
Micrurus hemprichii, commonly known as Hemprichi's coral snake, is a species of venomous coral snake in the family Elapidae from South America.[1][2]
The specific name, hemprichii, is in honor of German naturalist Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich.[3]
Hemprichi's coral snake occurs in forests at elevations below 1,000 m (3,300 ft), including lower montane wet forest, gallery forest, and primary and secondary rain forest. It is a cryptic species living in leaf litter of the forest floor.[1]
Hemprichi's coral snake feeds heavily on velvet worms,[4] but also on small snakes and amphisbaenids.[1]
M. hemprichii is found in the upper Amazon Basin, Guiana Highlands, and upper Orinoco Basin in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana, Surinam, and French Guiana.[1][2]
Two subspecies are recognized as being valid.[2]
Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Micrurus.
Micrurus hemprichii, commonly known as Hemprichi's coral snake, is a species of venomous coral snake in the family Elapidae from South America.
