False Coral Snake: Aniliidae

The false coral snake, the only species in this family, is a brightly colored, orange, red, or pinkish snake with fifty to sixty black bands. Each of the bands is two, three, or four scales wide. In some members of this species, the black bands are incomplete. In other words, they only reach partway up the sides of the snake and do not meet at the top of the back. Sometimes, the individual orange, red, or pinkish scales are outlined in black, making the snake look slightly speckled. Its belly is all red, orange, or pinkish, with no black banding. All scales on its body are shiny and smooth, which means they have no ridges, or keels. This nonvenomous (nahn-VEH-nuh-mus) snake looks somewhat similar to the venomous, or poisonous, coral snake species that shares its habitat and is therefore known as a "false" coral snake. Both false coral snakes and coral snakes, which are in the family Colubridae, are red, orange, or pink with evenly spaced black bands.

The body of a false coral snake is about the same thickness from one end to the other, giving the snake an overall tube shape. Both the head and tail are short. In snakes, the tail begins at the vent, which is a slitlike opening on the underside of the snake. This tube-shaped body is very similar to that of the pipe snakes of family Cylindrophiidae, and the false coral snakes are sometimes called red pipe snakes. At one time, in fact, the two families were combined into just one family. The only slight change in the body thickness of the false coral snake is in its head, which flattens out a bit. The head, which is made of very thick bones, has two small eyes covered by scales, and the large jaws have cone-shaped teeth that are very slightly curved. The snakes also have spurs, which are tiny, barely noticeable bits of bone that stick out near the vent. The snakes reach about 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 1 meters) in length.

Within this species of false coral snake, scientists have named two subspecies, or races. A species has a two-part name, and the false coral snake is named Anilius scytale. When scientists name subspecies, they add a third name to the end of the scientific name. In the case of the false coral snakes, the two subspecies have slightly different scale patterns. Anilius scytale scytale, abbreviated to A. s. scytale, has more than 225 ventrals, which are the scales on its underside, and A. s. phelpsorum has fewer than 225. The belly scales in snakes are generally wider than the rest of the scales on the snake's sides and back. A. s. scytale also has black bands that are shorter than the red bands, while A. s. phelpsorum has black bands that are longer than the red bands. In addition, the two subspecies usually live in different areas, with A. s. phelpsorum living farther north than A. s. scytale. In some areas, such as northern Brazil and French Guiana, some individuals look a little bit like both subspecies, which means that their two parents may be from two different subspecies.