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Erythrolamprus aesculapii
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Dipsadinae
Genus:	Erythrolamprus
Species:	E. aesculapii
Binomial name
	Erythrolamprus aesculapii; (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
	Coluber æsculapii Linnaeus, 1758; Natrix æsculapii (Linnaeus, 1758);

Erythrolamprus aesculapii, also known commonly as the Aesculapian false coral snake, the South American false coral snake, and in Portuguese as bacorá, or falsa-coral, is a species of mildly venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to South America.^[4]

Etymology

The specific name, aesculapii, refers to Aesculapius, the Greek mythological god of medicine, who is depicted with a snake-entwined staff.^[5]

Classification

Erythrolamprus aesculapii belongs to the genus Erythrolamprus, which contains over 50 species. The genus Erythrolamprus belongs to the subfamily Dipsadinae, which is sometimes referred to as the family Dipsadidae.

Molecular phylogenetic DNA analysis has shown that Erythrolamprus aesculapii is likely paraphyletic, as shown in the cladogram below of Erythrolamprus species located in northern South America:^[6]

E. poecilogyrus (paraphyletic)

	E. ceii

	E. poecilogyrus (paraphyletic)

E. miliaris

E. typhlus (Brazil) (paraphyletic)

E. reginae (paraphyletic)

	E. reginae (paraphyletic)

	E. zweifeli

E. breviceps

E. epinephalus (Peru) (paraphyletic)

	E. epinephalus (Costa Rica) (paraphyletic)

	E. pseudoreginae

E. melanotus

E. atraventer

	E. jaegeri

	E. almadensis

	E. juliae

	E. cursor

E. typhlus (French Guiana) (paraphyletic)

E. cobella

	Erythrolamprus aesculapii (Brazil) (paraphyletic)

	E. ocellatus

Erythrolamprus aesculapii (French Guiana & Guyana) (paraphyletic)

	E. bizona

	E. mimus

Geographic range

E. aesculapii is found in the Amazon rainforest of South America.^[4]^[7] It is also found on the island of Trinidad (in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago).^[8]

Habitat and behavior

E. aesculapii is often found in the leaf litter or burrowing in the soil in rain forests,^[4] at altitudes from sea level to 2,300 m (7,500 ft).^[1]

Diet

E. aesculapii feeds mainly on other snakes, including venomous species.^[4] It will also prey on lizards, fish and earthworms. Insects are probably consumed though secondary ingestion.^[9]

Venom

E. aesculapii is mildly venomous.^[8]

Mimicry

The brightly colored, ringed patterns of 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.^[10]

Subspecies

The following four subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies:^[2]

Erythrolamprus aesculapii aesculapii (Linnaeus, 1758) – Amazon River Basin
Erythrolamprus aesculapii monozonus Jan, 1863 – Brazil (Bahia state to Rio de Janeiro state)
Erythrolamprus aesculapii tetrazonus Jan, 1863 – southwestern Bolivia
Erythrolamprus aesculapii venustissimus (Wied, 1821) – eastern Bolivia to southeastern Brazil and northeastern Argentina^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b Ines Hladki A, Ramírez Pinilla M, Renjifo J, Urbina N, Nogueira C, Gagliardi G, Cisneros-Heredia DF, Catenazzi A, Gonzales L, Schargel W, Rivas G, Murphy J (2019). "Erythrolamprus aesculapii ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T203509A2766817. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T203509A2766817.en.Downloaded on 13 March 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Erythrolamprus aesculapii ". ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). www.itis.gov.
^ 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. (Erthrolamprus æsculapii, pp. 200-204).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Freiberg M (1982). Snakes of South America. Hong Kong: T.F.H. Publications. 189 pp. ISBN 0-87666-912-7. (Erythrolamprus aesculapii, pp. 66, 98, 132 + photograph on p. 42 + line drawing of head scalation on p. 67).
^ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Erythrolamprus aesculapii, p. 2).
^ Murphy, John C.; Braswell, Alvin L.; Charles, Stevland P.; Auguste, Renoir J.; Rivas, Gilson A.; Borzée, Amaël; Lehtinen, Richard M.; Jowers, Michael J. (15 Jan 2019). "A new species of Erythrolamprus from the oceanic island of Tobago (Squamata, Dipsadidae)". ZooKeys (817): 131–157. Bibcode:2019ZooK..817..131M. doi:10.3897/zookeys.817.30811. PMC 6342902. PMID 30686927.
^ Cole CJ, Townsend CR, Reynolds RP, MacCulloch RD, Lathrop A (2013). "Amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America: Illustrated keys, annotated species accounts, and a biogeographic synopsis". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 125 (4): 317–620. doi:10.2988/0006-324x-125.4.317. S2CID 86665287.
^ ^a ^b Erythrolamprus aesculapii at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 25 August 2014.
^ "Aesculapian False-Coralsnake (Erythrolamprus aesculapii)".
^ Goin CJ, Goin OB, 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).