Sonoran Coral Snake

Micruroides euryxanthus

These beautiful little snakes are members of the elapid snake family. That means they are not pit vipers (as are the rattlesnakes), but are instead related to cobras. They possess a neurotoxic venom which paralyzes the central nervous system. Fortunately, our Coral Snake is a very small animal which will not bite you unless you pick it up.

Coral snakes live in the desert and tend be crepuscular. They eat other snakes almost exclusively. These animals live around us all the time, but since they spend most of their time underground, they are seldom seen.

The top two are of a specimen captured by a Morenci resident who then summoned me via the GCSO. Themiddle two pictures are from a specimen my wife and I found while herping along the Gila River near York. The bottom two pictures are of a specimen I went to pick up on a snake call in a Clifton neighborhood.