Coral Snakes

The coral snakes are separated into two divisions: Old World coral snakes which are found in Asia, and New World coral snakes found in the americas. The Old World coral snakes are divided into three genera: Calliophis, Hemibungarus, and Sinomicrusus. The New World coral snakes are also divided into 3 genera: Leptomicrurus, Micruroides and Micrusus.(1) The Texas Coral Snake (Micrurus tener), lives in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), and it is because the Valley is one of their habitat regions , I will be focusing on it. (2) Texas Coral Snakes are small, thin, colorful - bright black, yellow, and red. Measures anywhere from 18 to 20 inches in length and occasionally 3 feet long. They have short fixed fangs, round eyes, blunt head and tail which are

The Texas Coral Snake eats lizards and other small, smoothed-scaled snakes, they also eat frogs and rodents. (1)

The Milk Snake copying the Texas Coral Snake is referred to as Batesian Mimicry. Batesian Mimicry is named after Henry Walter Bates. (7) The Texas Coral Snake’s environment has influenced its evolution greatly, its venom has evolved to cause extreme pain to its predators which include: many birds of prey, like hawks, eagles, hornbills ,storks, buzzards, and a few others; some mammals eat the Texas Coral Snake too: raccoons, foxes, hedgehogs, skunks, and mongooses. (9) The Texas Coral Snake is very important for controlling the rodent population. It eats them frequently. This helps us, because rodents are a pest to us. If the Texas Coral Snakes did not eat rodents, we would have multiple rodent infestations in our houses.(5)