''Tutusius'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

tetrapod from the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

of South Africa, containing a single species, ''Tutusius umlambo''. It was described from the +/- 360 myo Gondwana locality of Waterloo Farm lagerstätte on the south-eastern coast of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, which at the time was located within the

Antarctic Circle The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of Earth. The region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic, and the zone immediately to the north is called the Southern Temperate Zone. So ...

. Together with the find of '' Umzantsia amazana'' from the same locality, this provides the first evidence that Devonian tetrapods were not restricted to the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

as was formerly believed, and suggests that they may have been global in distribution. Waterloo Farm

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

have been metamorphosed and intensely flattened, with the bone tissue replaced by secondary metamorphic mica that is partially altered to kaolinite and chlorite during uplift. They also provide the first evidence of Devonian tetrapods from the continent of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and only the second and third such taxa from Gondwana.

Taxonomy

''Tutusius umlambo'' is known from a single

cleithrum The cleithrum (: cleithra) is a membrane bone which first appears as part of the skeleton in primitive Osteichthyes, bony fish, where it runs vertically along the scapula. Its name is derived from Greek κλειθρον = "key (lock)", by analogy ...

(a bone of the

shoulder girdle The shoulder girdle or pectoral girdle is the set of bones in the appendicular skeleton which connects to the arm on each side. In humans, it consists of the clavicle and scapula; in those species with three bones in the shoulder, it consists o ...

) discovered at the Waterloo Farm lagerstätte, South Africa. It was described in 2018 by palaeontologists Robert Gess and Per Erik Ahlberg in 2018. The generic name is in honour of Archbishop

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

, in recognition of his contribution to the political and social development of South Africa. The specific name is from

isiXhosa Xhosa ( , ), formerly spelled ''Xosa'' and also known by its local name ''isiXhosa'', is a Bantu language, indigenous to Southern Africa and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language ...

“umlambo”, meaning “river”, referring to the depositional environment. The lagerstätte dates to the

Late Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era during the Phanerozoic eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian period at million years ago ( Ma), to the beginning of the succeeding ...

roughly 360 million years ago. ''Tutusius'', along with '' Umzantsia'' from the same lagerstätte, are the first evidence of Devonian

tetrapod A tetrapod (; from Ancient Greek :wiktionary:τετρα-#Ancient Greek, τετρα- ''(tetra-)'' 'four' and :wiktionary:πούς#Ancient Greek, πούς ''(poús)'' 'foot') is any four-Limb (anatomy), limbed vertebrate animal of the clade Tetr ...

s beyond 30° in latitude from the

equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

and on the

supercontinent In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth's continent, continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. However, some geologists use a different definition, "a grouping of formerly dispersed continents", ...

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

(except for a single body fossil and footprint from what is now Australia). The lagerstätte would have been in the south polar region, and the two genera demonstrate early tetrapods were not restricted to the warm

. They also make it possible that the transition from

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

to tetrapod occurred at the poles instead of the tropics.

Description

''Tutusius'' is represented by a single bone from the shoulder girdle, the cleithrum. It tapers to a point anteroventrally and carries a single attachment scar for the scapulocoracoid, which extends along the anteroventral process, forms a v-shaped dorsal peak, and ends posteriorly in a projecting buttress. The cleithrum lacks ornament and has a distinct flexure point delineating the obliquely sloping ventral half of the bone from the more vertical dorsal half. The blade of the cleithrum is broad and thin. It differs from all other tetrapod cleithra in the presence of a projecting posterior flange with striated texture and a jagged margin, on the middle part of the blade.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q96411419 Stegocephali Prehistoric lobe-finned fish genera Late Devonian sarcopterygians Devonian sarcopterygians of Africa