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

The elapid coral snake genus <i>Micrurus</i> 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 <i>Micrurus ibiboboca</i> a species complex. Here, we evaluate the cryptic diversity of the <i>M. ibiboboca</i> species complex based on a molecular phylogenetic analysis performed on a dataset that comprised 25 described species of <i>Micrurus</i> 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) <i>M. ortoni</i>, <i>M. surinamensis</i>, <i>M. potyguara</i>, <i>M. filiformis</i>, <i>M. lemniscatus</i>, <i>M. carvalhoi</i>, <i>M. diutius</i>, and <i>M. helleri</i>; (2) <i>M. dissoleucus</i> and <i>M. mipartitus</i>; and (3) <i>M. frontalis</i>, <i>M. brasiliensis</i>, <i>M. obscurus</i>, <i>M. altirostris</i>, <i>M. baliocoryphus</i>, <i>M. pyrrhocryptus</i>, and the <i>M. ibiboboca</i> species complex. Based on our results, we redescribe <i>M. ibiboboca</i> and describe three new species of coral snake from Northeastern and Southeastern Brazil, previously confused with <i>M. ibiboboca.</i> http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:44DE4ADA-1DE3-46E1-A288-CBC5E37105E5