Gigantophis

Taxobox
name = "Gigantophis"
fossil_range = Late Eocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Serpentes
familia = Madtsoiidae
genus = "Gigantophis"
species = "G. garstini"
binomial = "Gigantophis garstini"
binomial_authority = Andrews, 1901

"Gigantophis garstini" ('Garstin's giant snake') was a prehistoric snake which may have measured more than 10 meters (33ft), larger than any living species of snake. Gigantophis lived approximately 40 million years ago in the southern Sahara where Egypt and Algeria are now situated.

The species is known only from a small number of fossils, and may have preyed on basal proboscideans, pig-sized ancestors of modern elephants.

Jason Head of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. has compared the fossil vertebrae of a "Gigantophis" to those of the largest modern snakes, and concluded that the extinct snake could grow to 9.3 to 10.7 meters in length. If 10.7 meters, it would have been more than 10 percent longer than its largest living relatives. [Information from issue 2473 of New Scientist magazine, 13 November 2004, page 17] Gigantophis is classified as a member of the madtsoiid family.