Review of the geographic distribution of Micrurus decoratus (Jan, 1858) (Serpentes: Elapidae)

Authors

  • Rodrigo Castellari Gonzalez Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional, Departamento de Vertebrados, Setor de Herpetologia
  • Thiago Silva-Soares Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional, Departamento de Vertebrados, Setor de Herpetologia
  • Thiago Marcial de Castro Centro Universitário São Camilo
  • Renato Silveira Bérnils Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Centro Universitário Norte do Espírito Santo, Departamento de Ciências Agrárias e Biológicas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9079.v13i1p29-39

Keywords:

Altitude rainforest endemism, coral snake, doubtful records, new records, geographical range.

Abstract

Micrurus decoratus (Jan, 1858) is a poorly known species of coral snake, with a controversial history concerning its geographical range. The lack of consensus among researchers, since its original description, is largely due to the reporting of erroneous localities in publications. Herein we present the geographical range for the species based on the review of 184 records from 67 different municipalities in Brazil, including two new records for the state of Espírito Santo, extending its distribution to ca. 300 km northward from the previous northernmost locality. We also comment on doubtful records for the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Bahia, which contain no accurate data. We restrict the occurrence of Micrurus decoratus to the Atlantic Rainforest, with elevation range from 400 up to 1,600 m in the Brazilian states of Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2014-08-30

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 1 (2014)

Section

Articles

License

All material originally published in Phyllomedusa belongs to Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz - Universidade de São Paulo. All contents are under a license of Creative Commons BY-NC-ND.

How to Cite

Gonzalez, R. C., Silva-Soares, T., Castro, T. M. de, & Bérnils, R. S. (2014). Review of the geographic distribution of Micrurus decoratus (Jan, 1858) (Serpentes: Elapidae). Phyllomedusa: Journal of Herpetology, 13(1), 29-39. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9079.v13i1p29-39