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Picture of a harmless “milk” snake, Lampropeltis triangulum annulata, which is very similar in coloration to its more deadly venomous counterpart, the “Texas coral” snake, Micrurus tener, (see PHIL# 8141). The similarity in coloration to the Texas coral snake, and the fact that the habitats of these snakes includes hurricane-prone regions of the United States, makes the ability to accurately distinguish these two reptiles from one another extremely important for those living in, or first-responders to these areas after a weather-related disaster. Both the milk snake and coral snake have the characteristic pattern of wide red and black rings that are separated by thinner yellow rings, and can therefore, be readily distinguished from the similarly-colored harmless king, milk and scarlet snakes by the infamous rhyme, “red on yellow kill a fellow”. It should be noted however, that this color rule does not apply to many of the medically important species from Mexico, Central and South America (Campbell and Lamar 2004). This image was created in 2005 and was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Edward J. Wozniak D.V.M., Ph.D. [0003-0702-0314-3251] by 0003
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Keywords
animal, animals, cdc, lampropeltis triangulum, milk snake, milk snakes, reptile, reptiles, serpent, serpentes, snake, snakes, species of king snake
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