Coral Snake

Coral Snake, a loose popular name for some South American snakes marked with black, red, and yellow rings, a coloration found only in the serpents of this region. The name is often confined to the genus Elaps, and sometimes to E. corallinus. All the family Elapidae are venomous, but in the species of Elaps the mouth is too small for the bite to be very dangerous. The coloration of this genus is simulated by some of the Tortricidae, which are quite harmless.