Elegant coral snake

The elegant coral snake (Micrurus elegans) is a species of elapid snake, native to southern Mexico and Guatemala. There are two recognized subspecies.

Geographic range
M. elegans occurs at elevations from 500 – above sea level in southern Mexico (from central Veracruz, northern Oaxaca, and the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, southeastward through southern Tabasco, northern Chiapas), and Guatemala (the Caribbean versant of the northern mountains of Guatemala southwards to the Sierra de las Minas).

Habitat
The preferred natural habitat of M. elegans is forest, but it has also been found in agricultural areas.

Reproduction
M. elegans is oviparous.

Subspecies
There are two subspecies that are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.
 * Micrurus elegans elegans (Jan, 1858)
 * Micrurus elegans veraepacis Schmidt, 1933

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Micrurus.