Torvoneustes

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, and also from Oaxaca, Mexico
. 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.
"Dakosaurus carpenteri" was later reassigned to the genus "Geosaurus" in 2008. Two years later, it was assigned to its own genus, "Torvoneustes".
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".
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.