Iuticosaurus

Jute lizard

• Iutic- · Latin/Medieval Latin · of the Jutes (a Germanic people)
• -saurus · Greek · lizard

The name combines a Latinised form of "Jute" — the Germanic tribe that historically inhabited the Jutland Peninsula of present-day Denmark and parts of northern Germany — with the Greek word "sauros," meaning lizard. It was chosen because the fossil material was found in the Isle of Wight, England, which was settled by the Jutes during the early medieval period. The name therefore means "Jute lizard," honouring the ancient people associated with the region where the bones were discovered.

Named by

Le Loeuff and Buffetaut

Year named

1991

Period

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Stages

Tithonian – Berriasian

Found in

Wessex Formation (and related beds), Isle of Wight, England, UK

Iuticosaurus is a titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur known only from very fragmentary vertebral material (two caudal vertebrae). Because the material is so incomplete, the genus is widely regarded as a nomen dubium — the remains are insufficient to reliably diagnose or distinguish it from other sauropods. It is one of the few sauropod genera known from the Isle of Wight. Not a synonym of any specific accepted genus, but its status as a valid taxon is doubtful.