Mullerian mimicry and the colouration patterns of sympatric coral snakes

This dataset cointains data used for the study of Müllerian mimicry in coral snakes. Coral snakes in the genus Micrurus are venomous, aposematic organisms that signal danger to predators through vivid colouration. Previous studies found that they serve as models to several harmless species of Batesian mimics. However, the extent to which Micrurus species engage in Müllerian mimicry remains poorly understood. We integrate detailed morphological and geographical distribution data to investigate if coral snakes are Müllerian mimics. We found that colouration is spatially structured and that Micrurus species tend to be more similar where they co-occur. Though long supposed, we empirically demonstrate Müllerian mimicry for the first time in coral snakes. Additionally, we found that the length of red-coloured rings in Micrurus is conserved, even at large geographic scales. This finding suggests that bright red rings may be under more substantial stabilizing selection than other aspects of col...