>>The frequency of species displaying tricolor banding increases drastically as the tropic zone is approached.>>

Not quite correct. The tricolored snakes are often found in wooded areas. In more open habitats, the tricolored snakes are often nocturnal or they have lost their red coloration. The classic example is the diurnal Lampropeltis zonata herrerae, which has lost its red coloration. Snakes like Lampropeltis triangulum campbelli and L. t. celaenops are mostly nocturnal.

>>The center for elapid radiation is the American tropics.>>

Not quite. Australia has a large number of elapids. Don't forget that the sea snakes and cobras are also elapids.

>>Tricolored colubrids sympatric with elapids more closely resemble the elapids than do allopatric or parapatric colubrids. Food for thought. >>
>>-Cole

In most cases, scientists would invoke convergent evolution to explain such a phenomenon. But since the coral snake mimicry hypothesis is more of a dogma than a falsifiable scientific theory, many scientists would of course suggest mimicry as the only plausible explanation.

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