Ophidia
Group of squamate reptiles / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ophidia /oʊˈfɪdiə/ (also known as Pan-Serpentes[2]) is a group of squamate reptiles including modern snakes and reptiles more closely related to snakes than to other living groups of lizards.
Quick Facts Scientific classification, Subgroups ...
Ophidians | |
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Coast garter snake, Thamnophis elegans terrestris | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Clade: | Toxicofera |
Clade: | Ophidia Latreille, 1804 |
Subgroups | |
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Ophidia was defined as the "most recent common ancestor of Pachyrhachis and Serpentes (modern snakes), and all its descendants" by Lee and Caldwell (1998: 1551).[3] The latter author has used Ophidia in a manner inconsistent with this definition, using it to incorporate other more basal stem-snakes, such as the Late Cretaceous Najash rionegrina or the Jurassic Diablophis and Portugalophis[citation needed].
The clade name Ophidia derives from the Ancient Greek word ὀφίδιον (ophídion), meaning "small snake".[4][5]