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''Gigantophis'' is an extinct genus represented by its sole member ''Gigantophis garstini'', a giant snake. Before the Paleocene constrictor genus '' Titanoboa'' was described from Colombia in 2009, ''Gigantophis garstini'' was regarded as the largest snake ever recorded. It lived about 40 million years ago during the Eocene epoch of the Paleogene Period, in the
Jason Head, of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, has compared fossil ''Gigantophis garstini'' vertebrae to those of the largest modern snakes, and concluded that the extinct snake could grow from in length. If , it would have been more than 10% longer than its largest living relatives.
Later estimates, based on allometric equations scaled from the
Paratethys Sea
The Paratethys sea, Paratethys ocean, Paratethys realm or just Paratethys was a large shallow inland sea that stretched from the region north of the Alps over Central Europe to the Aral Sea in Central Asia.
Paratethys was peculiar due to its pal ...
, within the northern Sahara
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, where Egypt and Algeria are now located.
Description
Size
Jason Head, of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, has compared fossil ''Gigantophis garstini'' vertebrae to those of the largest modern snakes, and concluded that the extinct snake could grow from in length. If , it would have been more than 10% longer than its largest living relatives.
Later estimates, based on allometric equations scaled from the articular processes
The articular processes or zygapophyses (Greek ζυγον = "yoke" (because it links two vertebrae) + απο = "away" + φυσις = "process") of a vertebra are projections of the vertebra that serve the purpose of fitting with an adjacent vertebr ...
of tail vertebrae referred to ''Gigantophis garstini'', revised the length of ''Gigantophis garstini'' to .
Discovery
The species is known only from a small number offossils
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...
, mostly vertebrae.
Its discovery was published in 1901 by paleontologist Charles William Andrews, who described it, estimated its length to be about 30 feet, and named it ''garstini'' in honor of Sir William Garstin, KCMG, the Under Secretary of State for Public Works in Egypt.
In 2013, vertebrae collected in Pakistan were found to be similar to ''Gigantophis'' vertebrae collected in Egypt, but their exact affinities are uncertain.
Classification
''Gigantophis garstini'' is classified as a member of the extinct family Madtsoiidae.References
Eocene snakes Eocene reptiles of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1901 Taxa named by Charles William Andrews {{paleo-snake-stub