Holotype: not located, according to roze and Tilger, 1983, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept. 316:1-4[1].

Type-locality: Carolina. Restricted to vicinity of Chareston, South Carolina, USA, by Schmidt, 1953, Check List n. Am. Amph. Rept., 6th ed., 280 pp.[223].

Five subspecies, namely M. f. fulvius (Linnaeus, 1766); M. f. fitzingeri (Jan, 1858); M. f. maculatus Roze, 1967; M. f. microgalbineus Brown and Smith, 1942; and M. f. tener (Baird and Girard, 1853), were recognized by Roze and Tilger, 1983, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept. 316:1-4.

There are five subspecies. M. f. fulvius occurs in southeast N. Carolina south through Florida and west to Louisiana. The other four range from western Louisiana southwest through southern Texas to eastern & central Mexico (Barbour & Earnst 1989).

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )

endemic to a single nation

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)) Southeastern North Carolina to southern Florida, west to southeastern Louisiana, disjunctly northward to central Alabama (Ashton and Ashton 1981, Mount 1975, Dundee and Rossman 1989, Palmer and Braswell 1995, Tennant 1997, Campbell and Lamar 2004).

Southeastern USA from southeastern north Carolina through peninsular Florida westward to eastern and west-central Texas (apparently absent from the delta region of the lower Mississippi Valley), and southward into northeastern and central Mexico, including portions of the states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, and morelos.

Banded with red, white, or yellow and black on which the red and yellow bands lie beside each other, and the snout is black. Size ranges from two-three feet (Barket 1964). The body scales are smooth and occur in 15 rows throughout; the anal plate is divided.

Confusing species: several subspecies of Lampropeltis triangulum and the species Cemophora coccinea also have red, yellow and black bands crossing their bodies, but their red and yellow bands are separated by black bands and their snouts are red instead of black (Barbour & Ernst 1989).

Length: 121 cm

• Terrestrial

M. fluvius spends most of the time buried in the soil, in forest areas among decaying logs, leaves, and rocks. It seems to prefer dry, open or brushy areas, occasionally in marshy areas (Conant & Collins 1991).

Comments: Habitats include hardwood forest, pine-oak woodland, pine flatwoods, and xerophytic scrub, often in areas with sandy soils, sometimes marsh edges and residential areas (Mount 1975, Ashton and Ashton 1981, Palmer and Braswell 1995, Tennant 1997, Ernst and Ernst 2003). This secretive snake is often underground, under leaf litter, logs or stumps, or similarly secluded. Eggs probably are laid in loose soil or decaying organic matter (Mount 1975), or underground or under leaf litter or surface objects (Ernst 1992).

Non-Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species do not make significant seasonal migrations. Juvenile dispersal is not considered a migration.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

M. fulvius' diet consists mostly of snakes, including its own species. It also eats lizards, birds, frogs, fish, and insects. It uses venom to kill its victims (Stebbins 1966).

Comments: Eats mainly snakes and limbless or small-limbed lizards (Jackson and Franz 1981, Ernst 1992); sometimes anurans and rodents.

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 81 - 300

Comments: This species is represented by a large number of occurrences (subpopulations). On a range-wide scale, Campbell and Lamar (2004) mapped more than 100 collection sites.

100,000 - 1,000,000 individuals

Comments: Adult population size is unknown but presumably exceeds 100,000. Nearly 2,000 were turned in for bounties in a 39-month period in one county in Florida (see Ernst and Ernst 2003). This snake is often common; its secretive habits may give a false impression of rarity (Ernst 1992). Mount (1975) characterized it as relatively common in the lower Coastal Plain of Alabama. Tennant (1997) reported it as common in Florida.

Comments: In the northern part of the range, active mainly in daytime; diurnal activity occurs principally during morning and late afternoon. Active all year in Florida, especially in spring and fall, least active in winter (Jackson and Franz 1981).

Average lifespan

Status: captivity: 6.8 years.

M. fulvius breeds from late spring early summer and late summer to early fall. Eggs are laid during May to July. There are approximately 37 days between copulation and ovipostion. Clutches of 5-7 eggs will be laid and the young will hatch approximately 60 days later (Barket 1964, Stebbins 1966).

Females mature at a snout-vent length of about 55cm in 21-27 months. Males mature sexually usually around 45cm or longer reached in 11-21 months.

Ovary weights increase from March through April, and decline slightly in May and then more rapidly in June. There is complete regression with spermatogonia and Sertoli cells in May through August, with a peak in June (Barbour & Ernst 1989).

Mating occurs in spring and possibly also in fall (Ernst 1992). Lays clutch of 2-13 (often 4-7) eggs, May or June to July; eggs hatch in late summer or fall, after about 10-13 weeks of incubation; males sexually mature in 11-21 months, females in about 21-27 months (Jackson and Franz 1981, Behler and King 1979, Ernst and Barbour 1989).

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Secure in fairly large range in the southeastern United Staes; even where fairly common may appear to be scarce due to secretive habits.

Global Short Term Trend: Relatively stable (=10% change)

Comments: Trend is not documented, but extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and populations size probably are relatively stable or declining at a rate of less than 10 percent over 10 years or three generations.

Global Long Term Trend: Increase of 10-25% to decline of 30%

Comments: Overall, this species does not appear to be significantly threatened. In Alabama, populations declined after introduction of the fire ant, which may prey on eggs and young (Mount 1981). Habitat destruction and motorized vehicles are the most serious threats (Ernst 1992, Ernst and Ernst 2003).

Global Protection: Many to very many (13 to >40) occurrences appropriately protected and managed

Comments: Many occurrences are in protected areas.

Although it is not likely to be bitten by a wild coral snake, unless it is harassed, the venom is extremely toxic and can cause death.

Their neurotoxic venom is one of the venoms used in antiserum for snake bites. Venom is also being researched like many other venomous snakes. Research is being done for cancer, AIDS, and other disabilitating diseases. Without these animals for research we may lose many key cures.

Comments: Venomous but innocuous; humans are unlikely to be bitten unless intentionally handling the snake. See Ernst and Barbour (1989) and Ernst (1992) for information and references pertaining to envenomation of humans.

Comments: Micrurus tener formerly was included as a subspecies of M. fulvius. Crother et al. (2000), Collins and Taggart (2002), and Campbell and Lamar (2004) recognized M. tener and M. fulvius as distinct species.

Phylogenetic relationships of elapid snakes based on mtDNA data indicate that New World coralsnakes cluster with Asian coralsnakes (Slowinski and Keogh 2000).

See Slowinski (1995) for a phylogenetic analysis of New World coralsnakes.