Tutusius is agenus ofextinct tetrapod from theDevonian of South Africa, containing a single species,Tutusius umlambo. It was described from the +/- 360 myo Gondwana locality ofWaterloo Farm lagerstätte on the south-eastern coast ofSouth Africa, which at the time was located within theAntarctic Circle. Together with the find ofUmzantsia amazana from the same locality, this provides the first evidence that Devonian tetrapods were not restricted to thetropics as was formerly believed, and suggests that they may have been global in distribution. Waterloo Farmfossils 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 ofAfrica, and only the second and third such taxa from Gondwana.[1][2]
Tutusius umlambo is known from a singlecleithrum (a bone of theshoulder girdle) discovered at theWaterloo Farm lagerstätte, South Africa. It wasdescribed in 2018 by palaeontologists Robert Gess and Per Erik Ahlberg in 2018. Thegeneric name is in honour of ArchbishopDesmond Tutu, in recognition of his contribution to the political and social development of South Africa. The specific name is fromisiXhosa “umlambo”, meaning “river”, referring to the depositional environment. The lagerstätte dates to theLate Devonian roughly 360 million years ago.[1]
Tutusius, along withUmzantsia from the same lagerstätte, are the first evidence of Devoniantetrapods beyond 30° in latitude from theequator and on thesupercontinentGondwana (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 warmtropics. They also make it possible that the transition fromfish to tetrapod occurred at the poles instead of the tropics.[1]
Reconstruction of paleoenvironment of Waterloo Farm, including two stegocephaliansTutusius andUmzantsia
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.[1][2]
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