[4][5] The head color is black with a white or yellow back band, which narrows strongly in a dorsal shape, the bodies have wide red rings that are separated by a series of 15–27 (usually 17–21) by wide and narrow black rings and with white borders.

[6] Its range includes South America in Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Norte, Bahia, Santa Catarina, Espírito Santo), northeastern Argentina (Misiones), and Paraguay.

It is mainly found in the Amazon basin in tropical deciduous and evergreen forest at elevations ranging from sea level to 500 m.[2] Reproduction is oviparous, laying up to 15 eggs.

[2] It is not aggressive towards humans, the group of coral snakes represents only 1% of accidents in Central and South America, however the venom produced by them is highly potent, with neurotoxic action, causing neuromuscular block, which results in death from respiratory arrest, resulting from paralysis of the respiratory muscles.

[11] M. corallinus has alpha-neurotoxins with pre-synaptic activity that causes a high and spontaneous release of acetylcholine associated with the postsynaptic block of the electrical transmission between the nerve and the muscle.