Micrurus tener
Encyclopedia
Micrurus tener, commonly known as the Texas coral snake, is a species
of venomous
elapid
snake
.
United States
south to northeastern and central Mexico
. It inhabits the states of Texas
, Louisiana
, Arkansas
, Tamaulipas
, San Luis Potosí
, Guanajuato
, Querétaro
and Morelos
.
, a rounded head, and eye
s with round pupil
s. Albino
(lacking black pigment) and anerythristic (lacking red pigment) specimens have been found in the wild.
. They spend most of their time hiding in leaf litter, under logs, or in burrows in the ground.
consists of other snakes, primarily earth snakes, and other small fossorial
species. They will also occasionally eat small lizard
s, but the consumption of rodent
s by coral snakes is rare.
, causing neuromuscular
dysfunction. No deaths from coral snake bites have been reported in the United States since coral snake antivenom has been available to hospitals. The coral snake resembles other, nonvenomous snakes. This resemblance of colors has resulted in the popular saying, "Red on black, you're OK jack. Red on yellow, you're a dead fellow." Prior to the availability of antivenom, the fatality rate of coral snake envenomations is estimated at 10%, and death was primarily due to respiratory or cardiovascular failure.
A coral snake (genus Micrurus) is proteroglyphous, meaning it has a pair of hollow, small, fixed fangs in the front of its upper jaw, through which the venom is injected and encouraged via a chewing motion. Due to this method of venom delivery, a coral snake must bite and hold on for a brief time to deliver a significant amount of venom, unlike a viper
, which can simply strike and introduce a large amount of venom at once. Many bites from coral snakes do not inject any venom at all, and the small size of coral snakes makes their ability to bite humans rather limited. However, a bite from any coral snake should be considered extremely serious, and medical treatment should be sought immediately. This is because symptoms of envenomation are known to sometimes delay manifestation for as long as 12 hours, but once present, often progress rapidly.
of Micrurus tener:
, but more recent research has determined that it has enough morphological
differences to be considered its own species.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of venomous
Venomous snake
"Poisonous snake" redirects here. For true poisonous snakes, see Rhabdophis.Venomous snakes are snakes which have venom glands and specialized teeth for the injection of venom...
elapid
Elapidae
Elapidae is a family of venomous snakes found in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, terrestrially in Asia, Australia, Africa, North America and South America and aquatically in the Pacific and Indian Oceans...
snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
.
Geographic range
It ranges from the southernSouthern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
south to northeastern and central Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. It inhabits the states of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...
, San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....
, Guanajuato
Guanajuato
Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....
, Querétaro
Querétaro
Querétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro....
and Morelos
Morelos
Morelos officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 33 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca....
.
Description
The Texas coral snake has the traditional coloration associated with coral snakes, with black, yellow and red banding. It is capable of growing to 40 in (101.6 cm) in length, but most are closer to 24 in (61 cm). Males are typically smaller than females. They have smooth scalesScale (zoology)
In most biological nomenclature, a scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of an animal's skin to provide protection. In lepidopteran species, scales are plates on the surface of the insect wing, and provide coloration...
, a rounded head, and eye
Eye
Eyes are organs that detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. The simplest photoreceptors in conscious vision connect light to movement...
s with round pupil
Pupil
The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye. In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils. In...
s. Albino
Albinism
Albinism is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of an enzyme involved in the production of melanin...
(lacking black pigment) and anerythristic (lacking red pigment) specimens have been found in the wild.
Behavior
All coral snakes are shy, secretive animals, typically nocturnalNocturnal animal
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by activity during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal"....
. They spend most of their time hiding in leaf litter, under logs, or in burrows in the ground.
Diet
Their primary dietDiet (nutrition)
In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...
consists of other snakes, primarily earth snakes, and other small fossorial
Fossorial
A fossorial organism is one that is adapted to digging and life underground such as the badger, the naked mole rat, and the mole salamanders Ambystomatidae...
species. They will also occasionally eat small lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
s, but the consumption of rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s by coral snakes is rare.
Venom
Texas coral snake venom is a powerful neurotoxinNeurotoxin
A neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells , usually by interacting with membrane proteins such as ion channels. Some sources are more general, and define the effect of neurotoxins as occurring at nerve tissue...
, causing neuromuscular
Neuromuscular junction
A neuromuscular junction is the synapse or junction of the axon terminal of a motor neuron with the motor end plate, the highly-excitable region of muscle fiber plasma membrane responsible for initiation of action potentials across the muscle's surface, ultimately causing the muscle to contract...
dysfunction. No deaths from coral snake bites have been reported in the United States since coral snake antivenom has been available to hospitals. The coral snake resembles other, nonvenomous snakes. This resemblance of colors has resulted in the popular saying, "Red on black, you're OK jack. Red on yellow, you're a dead fellow." Prior to the availability of antivenom, the fatality rate of coral snake envenomations is estimated at 10%, and death was primarily due to respiratory or cardiovascular failure.
A coral snake (genus Micrurus) is proteroglyphous, meaning it has a pair of hollow, small, fixed fangs in the front of its upper jaw, through which the venom is injected and encouraged via a chewing motion. Due to this method of venom delivery, a coral snake must bite and hold on for a brief time to deliver a significant amount of venom, unlike a viper
Viperidae
The Viperidae are a family of venomous snakes found all over the world, except in Antarctica, Australia, Ireland, Madagascar, Hawaii, various other isolated islands, and above the Arctic Circle. All have relatively long, hinged fangs that permit deep penetration and injection of venom. Four...
, which can simply strike and introduce a large amount of venom at once. Many bites from coral snakes do not inject any venom at all, and the small size of coral snakes makes their ability to bite humans rather limited. However, a bite from any coral snake should be considered extremely serious, and medical treatment should be sought immediately. This is because symptoms of envenomation are known to sometimes delay manifestation for as long as 12 hours, but once present, often progress rapidly.
Subspecies
There are four recognized subspeciesSubspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of Micrurus tener:
- Micrurus tener fitzingeri (JanGiorgio JanGiorgio Jan was an Italian taxonomist, zoologist, botanist, herpetologist, and writer. He is also known as Georg Jan or Georges Jan....
, 1858) - Micrurus tener maculatus Roze, 1967
- Micrurus tener microgalbineus Brown & H.M. Smith, 1942
- Micrurus tener tener (BairdSpencer Fullerton BairdSpencer Fullerton Baird was an American ornithologist, ichthyologist and herpetologist. Starting in 1850 he was assistant-secretary and later secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C...
& GirardCharles Frédéric GirardCharles Frédéric Girard was a French biologist specializing in ichthyology and herpetology.Born in Mulhouse, France, he studied at the College of Neuchâtel, Switzerland as a student of Louis Agassiz. In 1847, he accompanied Agassiz as his assistant to Harvard...
, 1853)
Taxonomy
The Texas coral snake was once considered the same species as the Eastern coral snake, Micrurus fulviusMicrurus fulvius
Micrurus fulvius is a venomous elapid snake that is found in the southeastern United States and northeastern Mexico. It should not be confused with the scarlet snake or scarlet kingsnake , which are harmless mimics...
, but more recent research has determined that it has enough morphological
Comparative anatomy
Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny .-Description:...
differences to be considered its own species.