venom of the coral snake, though. In the absence of other snakes, mussuranas can feed also on small mammals. It has been reported that at least some captive specimens will accept only live snakes as prey. Habitat and behavior The preferred habitat of mussuranas is dense ground-level vegetation. They are diurnal. Conservation In some regions, farmers keep mussuranas as pets in order to keep their living environment clear of pit vipers, which claim annually a large number of deaths of domestic animals, like cattle. In the 1930s a Brazilian plan to breed and release large numbers of mussuranas for the control of pit vipers was tried but did not work. The Butantan Institute in São Paulo, which specializes in the production of antivenins, erected a statue of Clelia clelia as its symbol and a tribute to its usefulness in combating venomous snake bites. Mussuranas' immunity to bothropic venom was studied by the Brazilian scientist Vital Brazil in the 1920s. Mussuranas are increasingly rare due to the disappearance of their prey and have disappeared in many habitats. References Further reading Ditmars RL (1936). The Reptiles of North America. New York: Doubleday and Co. 476 pp., 135 plates. (Notes: Trimorphodon, Leptodeira capable of poisonous bites; mentions boomslang, possibly mussurana, dangerous.) Fitzinger LI (1826). Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften. Nebst einer Verwandtschafts-tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K. K. zoologischen Museum's zu Wien. Vienna: J.G. Heubner. five unnumbered + 67 pp. + one plate. (Clelia, new genus, p. 55). (in German and Latin). Roosevelt, Theodore (1914). Through the Brazilian Wilderness. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 410 pp. (Notes: Throughout the book, the snake is commonly referred to as the "mussurama [sic]"). External links Mussurana Care Sheet Photograph from the wild: mussurana 1, common lancehead 0. discussion forum (about venom of musurana) Mussuranas Snakes of Central America Snakes of South America Clelia Reptiles of Brazil Reptiles of Costa Rica Reptiles of Guatemala Reptiles of Guyana Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger