Torvoneustes

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Short description|Extinct genus of reptiles}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Late Jurassic, {{Fossil range|157.3|152.1}} | image = Torvoneustes carpenteri.jpg | image_caption = Size of ''T. carpenteri'' | taxon = Torvoneustes | authority = Andrade ''et al.'', 2010 | type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Dakosaurus carpenteri''''' | type_species_authority = Wilkinson ''et al.'', 2008 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision_ref = <ref name=T.coryphaeus>{{Cite journal | last1 = Young | first1 = M. T. | last2 = Andrade | first2 = M. B. | last3 = Etches | first3 = S. | last4 = Beatty | first4 = B. L. | title = A new metriorhynchid crocodylomorph from the Lower Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Late Jurassic) of England, with implications for the evolution of dermatocranium ornamentation in Geosaurini | doi = 10.1111/zoj.12082 | journal = Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | volume = 169 | issue = 4 | pages = 820 | year = 2013 }}</ref><ref name="Jair I 2016">{{cite journal |author1=Jair I. Barrientos-Lara |author2=Yanina Herrera |author3=Marta S. Fernández |author4=Jesús Alvarado-Ortega |year=2016 |title=Occurrence of ''Torvoneustes'' (Crocodylomorpha, Metriorhynchidae) in marine Jurassic deposits of Oaxaca, Mexico |journal=Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=415–424 |doi=10.4072/rbp.2016.3.07 |doi-access=free |hdl=11336/130337 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> | subdivision = *'''''T. carpenteri''''' (Wilkinson ''et al.'', 2008) *'''''T. coryphaeus''''' Young ''et al.'', 2013 *'''''T. jurensis''''' Girard ''et al.'', 2023 *'''''T. mexicanus''''' (Wieland, 1910) |synonyms = *''Dakosaurus carpenteri'' Wilkinson ''et al.'', 2008 *''Geosaurus carpenteri'' Young & Andrade, 2009 }}

'''''Torvoneustes''''' is an extinct genus of metriorhynchid thalattosuchian. It is known from skull and postcranial remains found in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Dorset and Wiltshire, England, the Virgula Marls of Switzerland<ref name=Jurensis>{{Cite journal|last1=Girard |first1=L. C. |last2=De Sousa Oliveira |first2=S. |last3=Raselli |first3=I. |last4=Martin |first4=J. E. |last5=Anquetin |first5=J. |year=2023 |title=Description and phylogenetic relationships of a new species of ''Torvoneustes'' (Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian of Switzerland |journal=PeerJ |volume=11 |at=e15512 |doi=10.7717/peerj.15512 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and also from Oaxaca, Mexico<ref name="Jair I 2016">{{cite journal |author1=Jair I. Barrientos-Lara |author2=Yanina Herrera |author3=Marta S. Fernández |author4=Jesús Alvarado-Ortega |year=2016 |title=Occurrence of ''Torvoneustes'' (Crocodylomorpha, Metriorhynchidae) in marine Jurassic deposits of Oaxaca, Mexico |journal=Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=415–424 |doi=10.4072/rbp.2016.3.07 |doi-access=free |hdl=11336/130337 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Youngetal2019">{{cite journal |author1=Mark T. Young |author2=Davide Foffa |author3=Lorna Steel |author4=Steve Eches |year=2019 |title=Macroevolutionary trends in the genus ''Torvoneustes'' (Crocodylomorpha, Metriorhynchidae) and discovery of a giant specimen from the Late Jurassic of Kimmeridge, UK |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=x |issue=x |pages=xx |doi=10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz101 |doi-access=free }}</ref> . The holotype skull of the type species was initially assigned to the species ''Metriorhynchus superciliosus''. Postcranial remains were later discovered from the same quarry as the skull, and then these specimens were recognised as belonging to a new species of ''Dakosaurus'', as ''D. carpenteri''. The species was named to honour Simon Carpenter, an amateur geologist from Frome in Somerset, who discovered the fossils.<ref name="WYB08"/><ref>"[https://archive.today/20120913181936/http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Amateur-geologist-s-Jurassic-discoveries-display/article-694050-detail/article.html Amateur geologist's Jurassic discoveries go on display]", from the ''Evening Post'', Thursday, 12 February 2009, 15:45</ref>

''Dakosaurus carpenteri'' was later reassigned to the genus ''Geosaurus'' in 2008. Two years later, it was assigned to its own genus, ''Torvoneustes''.<ref name=Aetal10>{{cite journal |last=Andrade |first=M.B.D. |author2=Young, M.T. |author3=Desojo, J.B. |author4= Brusatte, S.L. |year=2010 |title=The evolution of extreme hypercarnivory in Metriorhynchidae (Mesoeucrocodylia: Thalattosuchia) based on evidence from microscopic denticle morphology |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=30 |issue=5 |pages=1451–1465 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2010.501442|s2cid=83985855 |hdl=11336/69039 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

When ''T. carpenteri'' was considered a species of ''Dakosaurus'', its relatively long snout and smaller, more numerous teeth were thought to be features retained from more basal metriorhynchids. Because of this, the species was seen as a transitional form between long-snouted, piscivorous metriorhynchids and hypercarnivorous, short-snouted species of ''Dakosaurus''.<ref name=WYB08>{{cite journal |last=Wilkinson |first=L.E. |author2=Young, M.T. |author3= Benton, M.J. |year=2008 |title=A new metriorhynchid crocodilian (Mesoeucrocodylia: Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) of Wiltshire, UK |journal=Palaeontology |volume=51 |issue=6 |pages=1307–1333 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00818.x|doi-access=free }}</ref> ''T. coryphaeus'' reached {{cvt|3.7|m|ft}} in length, while ''T. carpenteri'' reached {{cvt|4|-|4.7|m}} in length; some specimens indicate an even larger body size.<ref>Young, Mark T.; Brusatte, Stephen L.; De Andrade, Marco Brandalise; Desojo, Julia B.; Beatty, Brian L.; Steel, Lorna; Fernández, Marta S.; Sakamoto, Manabu; Ruiz-Omeñaca, José Ignacio; Schoch, Rainer R.; (2012) "[https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0044985 The Cranial Osteology and Feeding Ecology of the Metriorhynchid Crocodylomorph Genera Dakosaurus and Plesiosuchus from the Late Jurassic of Europe]", in Butler, Richard J. (ed.), PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 9, p. e44985, pmid 23028723, pmc 3445579, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044985</ref><ref name="Youngetal2019"/> ''T. jurensis'' was estimated to have reached a length of {{cvt|4|m}}.<ref name=Jurensis/>

While ''Dakosaurus'' and ''Geosaurus'' have ziphodont dentition with teeth that are laterally compressed, ''Torvoneustes'' is unique in having a false-ziphodont dentition. The common ancestor of ''Dakosaurus'' and ''Geosaurus'' may also have had a ziphodont dentition, and as ''Torvoneustes'' is also a descendant of this common ancestor, it is possible that a ziphodont dentition was secondarily lost in the genus. However, it is also possible that ''Dakosaurus'' and ''Geosaurus'' acquired similar dentitions independently, and that ''Torvoneustes'' is not descended from a ziphodont ancestor.<ref name=Aetal10/>

Fossil teeth of a similar form were also found in a stratum from the Czech Republic dating to late Valanginian.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Daniel |last1=Madzia |first2=Sven |last2=Sachs |first3=Mark T. |last3=Young |first4=Alexander |last4=Lukeneder |first5=Petr |last5=Skupien |year=2021|title=Evidence of two lineages of metriorhynchid crocodylomorphs in the Lower Cretaceous of the Czech Republic|journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica|volume=66|issue=2|pages=357–367|doi=10.4202/app.00801.2020|doi-access=free |hdl=10084/145230 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera Category:Prehistoric marine crocodylomorphs Category:Kimmeridgian life Category:Late Jurassic crocodylomorphs of Europe Category:Jurassic England Category:Fossils of England Category:Late Jurassic crocodylomorphs of North America Category:Jurassic Mexico Category:Fossils of Mexico Category:Fossil taxa described in 2008 Category:Fossil taxa described in 2013