Species information
Scientific name: Sinomicrurus boettgeri
Japanese name: ハイ
Chinese name: 沖繩華珊瑚蛇
English name: Boettger’s coral snake
Origin: Okinawajima, Tokashikijima, Iheyajima, Kumejima
Ecology and description
Boettger’s coral snake is a small venomous snake in the family Elapidae, about 40–50 cm long. It is rare and hard to observe. It lives on the floor of damp natural and secondary forests and feeds on lizards and small snakes.
It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the Japanese coral snake (ヒャン, S. japonicus), but a 2021 study raised it to a full species. The species name boettgeri honors the German zoologist Oskar Boettger.
Field photographs taken during our tours, with observation dates
