Definition

Noun: 1. A venomous snake species native to the Americas: Refers to any of several species of brightly colored, venomous elapid snakes found in Central and South America. They are characterized by distinctive banding patterns of red, black, and either yellow or white rings.

Usage and Examples

• The new world coral snake is often confused with non-venomous mimics due to its similar color pattern.
• While hiking in the rainforest, we were cautioned to watch out for the new world coral snake.
• Herpetologists study the venom of the new world coral snake for potential medical applications.

Advanced Usage and Notes

• The term new world coral snake is used in herpetology and zoological contexts to distinguish these American species from the unrelated "Old World" or "true" coral snakes found in Asia.
• The classic rhyme "red on yellow, kill a fellow; red on black, venom lack" is a mnemonic used in North America to distinguish the venomous new world coral snake (red bands touching yellow bands) from non-venomous look-alikes like the scarlet king snake (red bands touching black bands). Note: This rhyme is not reliably accurate for all new world coral snake species throughout Central and South America.

Variants and Related Words

• Coral snake (noun): A more general term that can refer to both New World and Old World species. The term new world coral snake specifies the geographic origin.
• Elapid (noun): The family of front-fanged venomous snakes to which the new world coral snake belongs, which also includes cobras and mambas.
• Micrurus (noun): The primary genus for many new world coral snake species (e.g., , the Eastern coral snake).

Synonyms

• American coral snake
• New World elapid (in specific technical contexts)

Different Meanings

• This term has a single, specific zoological meaning. It does not have other common metaphorical or idiomatic meanings.

Idioms and Phrases

• There are no common idioms or phrasal verbs directly incorporating the specific term new world coral snake. General idioms about snakes (e.g., "a snake in the grass") are not specific to this species.

Noun

1. any of several venomous New World snakes brilliantly banded in red and black and either yellow or white; widely distributed in South America and Central America