Ophidia

Ophidians; Temporal range: ; Middle Jurassic – Holocene, ;
	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
	†Coniophis; †Diablophis?; †Portugalophis?; †Dinilysia; †Eophis?; †Eupodophis?; †Najash; †Parviraptor?; †Lapparentophiidae; †Madtsoiidae?; †Pachyophiidae; Serpentes;

Ophidia /oʊˈfɪdiə/ (also known as Pan-Serpentes) is a group of squamate reptiles including modern snakes and reptiles more closely related to snakes than to other living groups of lizards.

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). 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 rioegrina or the Jurassic Diablophis and Portugalophis.

The clade name Ophidia derives from the Ancient Greek word ὀφίδιον (ophídion), meaning "small snake".

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