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Mesopotamian coral snake

Micrurus baliocoryphus (Cope, 1860)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Coral snake -Micrurus frontalis mesopotamicus (Barrio & Miranda 1967)- in Parque Estadual do Turvo - Derrubadas in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Coral snake -Micrurus frontalis mesopotamicus (Barrio & Miranda 1967)- in Parque Estadual do Turvo - Derrubadas in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Paul V.F. Barradas · CC BY 2.0 · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

Micrurus baliocoryphus, also known commonly as the Mesopotamian coral snake, is a species of coral snake in the family Elapidae. Like the other members of its family, it is venomous. It is native to central South America.

Wikipedia contributors, Micrurus baliocoryphus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:53:38.592577+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Micrurus baliocoryphus (Cope, 1860)
Name authority
(Cope, 1860)
Common name
Mesopotamian coral snake
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Reptilia
Order
Squamata
Family
Elapidae
Genus
Micrurus
Extinction status
Not supplied by this source

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
  9. orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
  10. suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
  11. infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
  12. familyElapidae
  13. genusMicrurus
  14. speciesMicrurus baliocoryphus (Cope, 1860)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Micrurus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Remote coral snakeMicrurus remotus Roze, 1987ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Desert Coral SnakeMicrurus tschudii (Jan, 1858)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Aquatic Coral SnakeMicrurus surinamensis (Cuvier, 1816)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Micrurus serranus Harvey, Aparicio & Gonzalez, 2003ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
San Gil coral snakeMicrurus sangilensis Niceforo Maria, 1942ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Pastaza Piedmont coral snake [orcesi]Micrurus steindachneri (Werner, 1901)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Antioquian coral snake [antioquiensis]Micrurus dumerilii (Jan, 1858)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Barranquilla pygmy coral snake [nigrirostris]Micrurus dissoleucus Cope, 1860ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Diastema Coral SnakeMicrurus diastema (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Clark's Coral SnakeMicrurus clarki Schmidt, 1936ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Micrurus camilae Renjifo & Lundberg, 2003ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Brown's Coral SnakeMicrurus browni (Schmidt & Smith, 1943)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 276 records assigned to Elapidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Elaps baliocoryphus Cope, 1860 Cope, 1860synonym
Micrurus frontalis mesopotamicus Barrio & Miranda, 1967 Barrio & Miranda, 1967synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Argentina (Entre Rios, Correintes, SW Misiones), Paraguay (fide Paul Smith, pers. comm., 27 Apr 2014)

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Micrurus&species=baliocoryphus Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:73JL3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.