Carnufex

Name: Carnufex ‭(‬Butcher‭)‬.
Phonetic: Kar-nu-feks.
Named By: L.‭ ‬E.‭ ‬Zanno,‭ ‬S.‭ ‬Drymala,‭ ‬S.‭ ‬J.‭ ‬Nesbitt‭ & ‬V.‭ ‬P.‭ ‬Scheider‭ ‬-‭ ‬2015.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Crocodylomorpha.
Species: C.‭ ‬carolinensis‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Roughly about‭ ‬3‭ ‬meters long for the‭ ‬holotype,‭ ‬other individuals might have been larger.
Known locations: USA,‭ ‬South Carolina‭ ‬-‭ ‬Pekin Formation.
Time period: Carnian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Partial skull,‭ ‬jaw and partial post cranial remains.




       Described in‭ ‬2015,‭ ‬Carnufex may well have been one of the key predators that lived in what would become the eastern USA during the Triassic about‭ ‬231‭ ‬million years ago.‭ ‬Carnufex was a crocodylomorph,‭ ‬a distant relative to today’s crocodiles,‭ ‬and one that seems to have been a bipedal predator of moderately sized animals.‭ ‬The authors of the‭ ‬2015‭ ‬description have noted several features of the known bones of Carnufex making it stand out from related genera as a distinct genus.‭ ‬They also noted that the skull of Carnufex seems to be quite transitional linking differences between different groups of crocodylomorphs.‭ ‬As a fairly fast bipedal predator,‭ ‬Carnufex may have filled an ecological gap that had not yet been filled by the emerging theropod dinosaurs,‭ ‬though ultimately by the Jurassic,‭ ‬the theropod dinosaurs would have replaced crocodylomorphs like Carnufex as top predators.
       The name Carnufex is derived from the Latin word for‭ ‘‬butcher‭’‬,‭ ‬while the type species name‭ ‘‬carolinensis‭’ ‬simply means from Carolina.‭ ‬Recombined into English grammatical order,‭ ‬and Carnufex carolinensis translates as‭ ‘‬Carolina’s butcher‭’‬.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Early crocodylomorph increases top tier predator diversity during rise of dinosaurs.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Scientific Reports‭ ‬5:‭ ‬9276.‭ ‬-‭ ‬L.‭ ‬E.‭ ‬Zanno,‭ ‬S.‭ ‬Drymala,‭ ‬S.‭ ‬J.‭ ‬Nesbitt‭ & ‬V.‭ ‬P.‭ ‬Scheider‭ ‬-‭ ‬2015.
- Osteology of Carnufex carolinensis (Archosauria: Psuedosuchia) from the Pekin Formation of North Carolina and Its Implications for Early Crocodylomorph Evolution. - PLOS ONE. 11 (6): e0157528. - S. M. Drymala, L. E. Zanno - 2016.



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