Pliocercus euryzonus
—
Black Halloween Snake
Also known as:
Cope’s False Coral Snake, Halloween Snake
This species was previously placed in the genus Urotheca.
Subspecies I've seen:
P. e. burghardti
Black Halloween Snake
Pliocercus euryzonus burghardti
—
Black Halloween Snake
Joseph Ehrenberger spotted this pretty snake as it prowled slowly along the creek's edge. Neither of us were sure that it was not a coral snake, so we just watched it crawl around as we waited for the rest of our group to join us. (Matt Cage eventually arrived and identified the snake as Pliocercus.) Note that in the second photo it has crawled right over a very young basilisk lizard without either animal apparently realizing this.
Online references:
- Pliocercus euryzonus account on The Reptile Database
Printed references:
- Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America, 2nd Edition
- Savage, J. M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica