It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru.

The snake, which was described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1862,[2] is notable for its apparent immunity to the toxic skin of the golden poison dart frog, which it preys upon.

The genus Erythrolamprus belongs to the subfamily Dipsadinae, which is sometimes referred to as the family Dipsadidae.

Recent phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular DNA evidence has shown that Erythrolamprus epinephalus is now likely paraphyletic, with respect to Erythrolamprus pseudoreginae of Tobago, named in 2019.

This article relating to Dipsadinae is a stub.