False Triad Coral Snake
Ecuadorian Coral Snake
Coral de Tríadas Falsas
M. bocourti reaches a maximum size of 82 cm, the average size ranges between 45 and 70 cm. Roze (1996) describes the species as:
"The black cap is separated from the black nuchal band by an irregular white band. Occasionally, white spots are found on the parietal tips and the first dorsals. The last supralabials and temporals are white. Below, the mental and the first infralabials are partially or completely black. The rest of the head is white, but black tips may be present on some chin scales. In some specimens the chin is almost completely white. The nuchal black band is one of the original black bands, behind which an accessory band is formed so that the first triad consists of only 2 black bands. The other black triads consist of a central band, 3 to 5 dorsals long, and irregular outer bands 1 to 2 (sometimes 3) dorsals long. Ventrally, the bands of the triads are irregular, interrupted, or 1 ventral long. The red bands have irregular black tips or large black spots that are concentrated around the periphery to produce the accessory black bands. The red bands are 5 to 13 dorsals and ventrals long. Ventrally they have both large and small black smudges or spots. The white bands within a triad are 1 or 2 dorsals and ventrals long with small, poorly-defined black tips. There are black and white bands on the tail. The white bands have a large, irregular spot in the middle."
There are 197 to 220 ventral scales and 32 to 50 subcaudal scales (Roze, 1996).
Known to prey on caecilians (Roze, 1996).
Pacific lowlands of Ecuador and northern Peru.
Humid to dry lowland formations and dry western slopes of the Andes from sea level to 1500 m (Roze, 1996).
Type: Musée de Paris; given as MNHNP 869 by Roux-Estève, 1983 [dated 1982], Mem. Inst. Butantan 46:81. However -- Roze, 1967, Am Mus. Novit. 2287:1-60[8], lists the type as MNHNP E-334/2, which he states is also one of the syntypes for M. circinalis.
Type-locality: Patrie incertaine; restricted to Río Daule, Provincia de Guayas, Ecuador, by Roze, 1967, Am. Mus. Novit. 2287:1-60[8].
M. sangilensis has at times been considered a subspecies of M. bocourti (e.g. Roze In Peters and Orejas-Miranda, 1970, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus. 297(1):1-347[203].). Roze, 1983 [dated 1982], Mem. Inst. Butantan 46:305-338[334], recognized M. sangilensis as a valid species and did not recognize subspecies of M. bocourti.
