Early crocodylomorph increases top tier predator diversity during rise of dinosaurs

Partial, skeletally immature holotype NCSM 21558 documents a large-bodied Carnian crocodylomorph; skull and femur scaling plus assemblage context support a top-tier-predator interpretation, not observed feeding, a global first occurrence or direct ancestry.

The Crocodylomorpha route uses the Carnian Carnufex holotype as an early sampled occurrence and living crocodylian descendants as the navigation endpoint; neither edge is an exact clade origin, global FAD or direct ancestor chain.

Carnufex is anchored by partial, immature holotype NCSM 21558 from the Carnian Pekin Formation of North Carolina; that one individual does not define the genus-wide first or last appearance.

Zanno et al. named Carnufex carolinensis from holotype NCSM 21558 and recovered it at the base of Crocodylomorpha in an unresolved polytomy in their 79-taxon, 413-character analysis; this is a sampled topology, not direct ancestry.

The Carnufex type and referred material are recorded from the approximately 231 Ma Pekin Formation in Chatham County, North Carolina; this single formation sample does not establish a genus-wide distribution or absence elsewhere.

NCSM 21558 preserves partial cranial and postcranial material, including a reconstructed slender, ornamented skull longer than 50 cm and elongate, serrated, slightly recurved premaxillary teeth; these observations are limited to the immature holotype.

The study interprets Carnufex as an approximately 3 m terrestrial faunivore and top-tier predator in the sampled Pekin Formation assemblage using serrated teeth, reconstructed skull length and an immature femur-length estimate of 353–440 mm; feeding, locomotion and guild are not direct behavioural observations.