Laophis

{{Short description|Genus of snakes}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = {{Geological range|Pliocene}}

| genus = Laophis

| species = crotaloides

| authority = (Owen, 1857)

}}

Laophis (From Ancient Greek, stone snake){{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/296468542|title=New material of Laophis crotaloides, an enigmatic giant snake from Greece, with an overview of the largest fossil European vipers|author=Georgios Georgalis|website=researchgate.net|date=2016|access-date=14 September 2022}} is a genus of viperid snake currently containing one known species that lived during the Pliocene in Northern Greece.{{cite web|date=2014|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274564872|title=Rediscovery of Laophis crotaloides – the world's largest viper?|first=Georgios|last=Georgalis|work=ResearchGate}} Few fossil vertebrae of this species was found in Thessaloniki, Greece.{{cite journal |doi=10.1144/GSL.JGS.1857.013.01-02.28|title=On the Fossil Vertebrae of a Serpent (Laophis crotaloides, Ow.) discovered by Capt. Spratt, R.N., in a Tertiary Formation at Salonica|journal=Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society|volume=13|pages=196–199|year=1857|last1=Owen|first1=R.|issue=1–2|s2cid=131142130|url=https://zenodo.org/record/2310903}} It reached a total length possibly exceeding {{cvt|3|m|ft|}} and a mass of up to {{cvt|26|kg|lb}}, making this perhaps the largest viper discovered yet.{{Cite web|url=http://www.livescience.com/48629-biggest-venomous-snake-fossils-found.html|title=Biggest Venomous Snake Ever Revealed in New Fossils|first=Stephanie|last=Pappas|website=LiveScience.com|year=2014|access-date=14 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307054402/https://www.livescience.com/48629-biggest-venomous-snake-fossils-found.html|archive-date=7 March 2021}} Originally described by Sir Richard Owen, the original fossils had been lost, until a single vertebra was discovered somewhere near Thessaloniki in 2014.{{cite web|date=2014|url=http://www.livescience.com/48629-biggest-venomous-snake-fossils-found.html|title=Biggest Venomous Snake Ever Revealed in New Fossils|work=LiveScience.com|first=Stephanie|last= Pappas}}{{cite web|date=2014|url=https://www.academia.edu/8753289|title=Rediscovery of Laophis crotaloides – the worlds [sic] largest viper?|first=Benjamin P.|last=Kear|work=academia.edu}}