Information About

Gigantophis Garstini




  color pink
  name ''Gigantophis garstini''
  status fossil
  fossil Range Late Eocene
  regnum Animal ia
  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 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. from issue 2473 of New Scientist magazine, 13 November 2004, page 17

Gigantophis is classified as a member of the Madtsoiid family.