Laophis crotaloides (lat.) - a species of extinct viper snakes, the only one in the genus Laophis . They lived in the Pliocene on the territory of modern Northern Greece [1] .
| † Laophis crotaloides |
| Scientific classification |
|---|
| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
| Infraclass : | Lepidosauromorphs |
| Infrastructure : | Caenophidia |
| Gender: | † Laophis Owen, 1857 |
| View: | † Laophis crotaloides |
|
| International scientific name |
|---|
Laophis crotaloides Owen , 1857 |
Geochronology
Pliocene5.33-2.58 Ma | million years | Era | F-d | Era |
|---|
| | Th | TO
but
th
n
about
s
about
th | | 2,588 | | | 5.33 | Pliocene | N
e
about
g
e
n | | 23.03 | Miocene | | 33.9 | Oligocene | P
but
l
e
about
g
e
n | | 55.8 | Eocene | | 65.5 | Paleocene | | 251 | Mesozoic |
◄ Nowadays◄ Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction |
|---|
|
Several (13) fossilized vertebrae of this species were found by Captain Spratt in a tertiary formation in Thessaloniki , Greece [2] . First described by Sir Richard Owen in 1857, later the original fossils were lost, but in 2014 another vertebra was discovered near Thessaloniki [3] [4] .
The total length of the snake reached 3-4 meters, and the weight could be 26 kg, making it the largest known viper, and all known poisonous snakes in general [3] .