Integrative taxonomy of Micrurus ibiboboca (Merrem, 1820) (Serpentes, Elapidae) reveals three new species of coral snake

The elapid coral snake genus Micrurus is a group of Neotropical venomous snakes divided into two clades composed of species with monadal and triadal colour patterns. Historically, several studies have considered the triadal Micrurus ibiboboca a species complex. Here, we evaluate the cryptic diversity of the M. ibiboboca species complex based on a molecular phylogenetic analysis performed on a dataset that comprised 25 described species of Micrurus and five sequenced genes (one nuclear and four mitochondrial). Furthermore, we contrasted our molecular results with a comprehensive morphological study using external and hemipenial characters. Our phylogenetic results recovered three well-supported clades for triadal colour patterns: (1) M. ortoni, M. surinamensis, M. potyguara, M. filiformis, M. lemniscatus, M. carvalhoi, M. diutius, and M. helleri; (2) M. dissoleucus and M. mipartitus; and (3) M. frontalis, M. brasiliensis, M. obscurus, M. altirostris, M. baliocoryphus, M. pyrrhocryptus, and the M. ibiboboca species complex. Based on our results, we redescribe M. ibiboboca and describe three new species of coral snake from Northeastern and Southeastern Brazil, previously confused with M. ibiboboca.