Carnufex is an extinct genus of crocodylomorph suchian from the Late Triassic of North America. The genus was first described in 2015 by Zanno et al., who named the binomial Carnufex carolinensis, meaning "Carolina butcher". Two specimens are known, the holotype skull and skeleton NCSM 21558, and the referred humerus NCSM 21623. The specimens are from the Carnian-age Pekin Formation, which dates to 231 million years ago. Based on the holotype, Carnufex would have been about 3 m (9.8 ft) long and 1.5 m (4.9 ft) tall, although it may have gotten larger due to the holotype not being fully grown.

Crocodylomorpha is a group of pseudosuchian archosaurs that includes the crocodilians and their extinct relatives. They were the only members of Pseudosuchia to survive the end-Triassic extinction. Extinct crocodylomorphs were considerably more ecologically diverse than modern crocodillians. The earliest and most primitive crocodylomorphs are represented by "sphenosuchians", a paraphyletic assemblage containing small-bodied, slender forms with elongated limbs that walked upright, which represents the ancestral morphology of Crocodylomorpha. These forms persisted until the end of the Jurassic. During the Jurassic, crocodylomorphs morphologically diversified into numerous niches, with the subgroups Neosuchia and the extinct Thalattosuchia adapting to aquatic life, while some terrestrial groups adopted herbivorous and omnivorous lifestyles. Terrestrial crocodylomorphs would continue to co-exist alongside aquatic forms until becoming extinct during the Miocene.