article_snippet: Carnufex carolinensis, which means 'Carolina Butcher due to Carolina Butcher ferocious appearance, was an early ancestor of modern crocodiles.
article_snippet: Carnufex carolinensis, shown in the artists impression above, would have chased down prey on Carolina Butcher and probably crunched
article_snippet: Dr Lindsay Zanno, assistant research professor at North Carolina State University and director of the palaeontology lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, said the fossil could help provide new clues about the evolution of crocodiles.
article_snippet: Carnufex carolinensis .
article_snippet: Importance: the fossil will help scientists unravel the evolution of crocodiles.
article_snippet: Until we deciphered the story behind Carnufex, it wasn’t clear that early crocodile ancestors were among those vying for top predator roles prior to the reign of dinosaurs in North America.'
article_snippet: The scientists, whose work is published in the journal Scientific Reports said that Carnufex is one of the world's earliest and largest early crocodile ancestors.
article_snippet: Carnufex was a large early crocodile and is marked in red above alongside other early crocodile species .
article_snippet: Dr Zanno said: 'The discovery of Carnufex, one of the world’s earliest and largest crocodylomorphs, adds new information to the push and pull of top terrestrial predators across Pangea. '
highlights_snippet: Carnufex carolinesis pursued reptiles and early mammals on Carnufex carolinesis hind legs .
  