Macclelland's coral snake
Sinomicrurus macclellandi, commonly known as MacClelland's coral snake, is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is endemic to southern and eastern Asia.
The specific name, macclellandi, is in honor of John McClelland, a physician and naturalist, who worked for the East India Company.
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Venom is a type of poison, especially one secreted by an animal. It is delivered in a bite, sting, or similar action. Venom has evolved in terrestr...
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starts withS. macclellandi is a small snake, about 40–80 centimetres (16–31 in) in total length (including tail), and has a thin body. Dorsally, it is reddish-brown, with thin, black cross bars, and its belly is creamy white. The head is small, round and black in color, with a broad, creamy white transverse band, and black outlines at the middle of the head. The dorsal scales on the body are smooth, and they are arranged, at midbody, in 13 parallel longitudinal rows.
S. macclellandi is found in East and Northeast India (Darjeeling, Assam, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh), Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Northern Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Central and Southern China (including Hong Kong, Hainan, north to Gansu and Shaanxi), Taiwan, and Japan (Ryukyu Islands).
S. macclellandi is mainly nocturnal and terrestrial. It occurs in forest litter, hillside, and lowland. It is often found hiding under leaves. Although this is a venomous species, it is quite docile and not likely to strike actively.
Like other elapids, S. macclellandi possesses a potent neurotoxic venom, which is capable of killing a person. Bite symptoms include numbness of lips and difficulty of speech and breathing, followed by blurred vision. Severe bite victims may die of instant heart failure, although there have been only a few human deaths recorded in Thailand.
S. macclellandi is an oviparous species. Mature females lay clutches of 6–14 eggs.
