Erythrolamprus

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

Genus of snakes

title: "Erythrolamprus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["erythrolamprus", "snake-genera", "taxa-named-by-johann-georg-wagler"] description: "Genus of snakes" topic_path: "general/erythrolamprus" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythrolamprus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of snakes ::

| name = Erythrolamprus | image = Erythrolamprus almadensis na Estação Ecológica de Santa Bárbara Giordano Rossi (03).jpg | image_caption = Almaden ground snake, Erythrolamprus almadensis | taxon = Erythrolamprus | authority = Boie, 1826 | synonyms = Coluber, Coniophanes, Coronella, Elaps, Glaphyrophis, Natrix, Opheomorphus, Umbrivaga | synonyms_ref =

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Adult_swampy.jpg" caption="An adult ''Erythrolamprus typhlus''"] ::

Erythrolamprus is a genus of colubrid snakes native to Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. They include the false coral snakes, which appear to be coral snake mimics.

Classification

The genus Erythrolamprus belongs to the subfamily Dipsadinae (which is sometimes referred to as the family Dipsadidae), belonging to the family Colubridae. Erythrolamprus previously contained just six species, mostly coral snake mimics. However, molecular studies beginning in 2009 determined that Erythrolamprus was not monophyletic, and thus most of the snakes of the genera Liophis, Leimadophis, and Umbrivaga were placed into Erythrolamprus, bringing the number of species up to 50.

Description

Erythrolamprus snakes are usually less than 1.6 m in length. They are ground snakes, with lifestyles ranging from fossorial (burrowing) to terrestrial to semi-aquatic, and in habitats ranging from rainforests to savannas to the mountainous páramo, up to 3500 m above sea level.

Species

These species are currently recognized as being valid.

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Erythrolamprus.

Mimicry

The brightly colored, ringed patterns of some of the snakes of the genus Erythrolamprus resemble those of sympatric coral snakes of the genus Micrurus, and it has been suggested that this is due to mimicry. Whether this is classical Batesian mimicry, classical Müllerian mimicry, a modified form of Müllerian mimicry, or no mimicry at all, remains to be proven.

Cited references

References

  1. [[George Albert Boulenger. Boulenger GA]] (1896). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ...'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I–XXV. (Genus ''Erythrolamprus'', pp. 199-200).
  2. {{EMBL genus
  3. (15 Jan 2019). "A new species of ''Erythrolamprus'' from the oceanic island of Tobago (Squamata, Dipsadidae)". [[ZooKeys]].
  4. {{ITIS
  5. [[species:Coleman Jett Goin. Goin CJ]], [[species:Olive Lynda Bown Goin. Goin OB]], [[species:George Robert Zug. Zug GR]] (1978). ''Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition''. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. xi + 378 pp. {{ISBN. 0-7167-0020-4. (Mimicry in ''Erythrolamprus'', p. 159).

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

erythrolamprussnake-generataxa-named-by-johann-georg-wagler