Eoneustes, Young & Brusatte & Ruta & Andrade, 2010

Young, Mark T., Brusatte, Stephen L., Ruta, Marcello & Andrade, Marco Brandalise De, 2010, The evolution of Metriorhynchoidea (mesoeucrocodylia, thalattosuchia): an integrated approach using geometric morphometrics, analysis of disparity, and biomechanics, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (Zool. J. Linn. Soc.) 158 (4), pp. 801-859 : 846

EONEUSTES GEN. NOV.

Type species: Eoneustes gaudryi (Collot, 1905) comb. nov.

Valid species: Eoneustes bathonicus (Mercier, 1933) comb. nov.; E. gaudryi (Collot, 1905) comb. nov.

Etymology: ‘Dawn swimmer’. Eos - is Ancient Greek for ‘dawn’, whereas - neustes is Ancient Greek for ‘swimmer’. This refers to the basal position of this genus in the phylogeny.

Geological range: Upper Bajocian–Middle Bathonian (Hua & Atrops, 1995).

Geographical range: Normandy, Burgundy, and Castellane, France .

Diagnosis: Metriorhynchoid thalattosuchian, with over 20 teeth per maxilla; strong ornamentation on the cranial bones, including those of the rostrum; rounded angle formed by the lateral and medial processes of the frontal; the frontal forms an intertemporal flange; the dorsal rim of the orbit is composed of the prefrontal, frontal, and postorbital bones (rostral to caudal); the orbital is ellipsoid; prefrontals are incipitally enlarged over the orbits; the antorbital fossa is elongate, narrow, and oriented obliquely, and is enclosed by the lacrimal, maxilla, and jugal; the antorbital pseudofenestra is enclosed by the lacrimal and maxilla; the lacrimal contacts the nasal primarily on its anterior edge; the prefrontal–nasal suture has a pronounced, rectangular convexity on the posterior half of the suture.