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Rubidgea

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Rubidgea
Temporal range:Permian257–254Ma
↓
Skull ofRubidgea atrox
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: †Gorgonopsia
Family: †Gorgonopsidae
Tribe: †Rubidgeini
Genus: †Rubidgea
Type species
†Rubidgea atrox
Broom, 1938
Species
  • †R. atrox
  • †R. platyrhina
  • †R. majora
Synonyms

Genus-level

  • BroomicephalusBrink & Kitching, 1953
  • TitanogorgonMaisch, 2002

Species-level

  • Rubidgea kitchingiBroom, 1938
  • Rubidgea laticepsBroom, 1940
  • Gorgonognathus maximusHuene, 1950
  • Broomicephalus laticepsBrink & Kitching, 1953
  • Rubidgea majoraBrink & Kitching, 1953
  • Dinogorgon (Broomicephalus) laticepsWatson & Romer, 1956
  • Titanogorgon maximusMaisch, 2002
  • Clelandina laticepsGebauer, 2007

Rubidgeais agenusofgorgonopsianfrom the upperPermianofSouth AfricaandTanzania,containing the speciesRubidgea atrox.[1][2]The generic nameRubidgeais sometimes believed to be derived from the surname of renownedKaroopaleontologist, Professor Bruce Rubidge, who has contributed to much of the research conducted ontherapsidsof theKaroo Basin.However, this generic name was actually erected in honor of Rubidge's paternal grandfather, Sidney Rubidge, who was a renowned fossil hunter. Its species nameatroxis derived from Latin, meaning “fierce, savage, terrible”.Rubidgeais part of thegorgonopsiansubfamilyRubidgeinae,aderivedgroup of large-bodied gorgonopsians restricted to the LatePermian(Lopingian). The subfamilyRubidgeinaefirst appeared in theTropidostomaAssemblage Zone.They reached their highest diversity in theCistecephalusandDaptocephalusassemblage zones of theBeaufort GroupinSouth Africa.[3][4][5]

History of discovery

[edit]

The firstRubidgeafossilwas discovered by C. J. M. "Croonie" Kitching, the father of renowned paleontologistJames Kitching,on the farm Doornberg outside the small townNieu-Bethesdasometime in the 1930s. In a paper published in 1938,Robert Broomnamed the fossilRubidgea kitchingi.[6]Broom noted the large size of the newgorgonopsidfossil,stating that it was a newspecies.[7]Subsequent discoveries in the following decades confirmed Broom's suspicions that a new subfamily ofgorgonopsiansshould be categorised, and theRubidgeinaewas erected.[8]

Description

[edit]
Restoration

Rubidgeawasthe largestAfricangorgonopsian[9]and one of the largest gorgonopsians known to have lived. The largest specimens had skulls that measure up to 46 cm (1.51 ft) in length.Rubidgeawas a heavily-built, large-bodiedapex predator,and sported a thick skull with long, sabre-likecanines.[10][11]TheRubidgeinaegroup as a whole were some of the largest gorgonopsians known to have lived, only outsized byInostrancevia,and are characterised by their robust skeletal features, particularly their skulls which are heavily-pachyostosed.The genusRubidgeais composed of three species,R. atrox,R. platyrhina,andR. majora.[9]


Classification

[edit]
Holotypeskull

TheRubidgeinaeare a subfamily ofderivedgorgonopsidsthat have only been found inAfrica.They are composed of sixgeneraand 17species.TheRubidgeinaeare closely related to their sister group, theInostranceviinae,which have only been found inRussia.Out of thegorgonopsianclade,thesystematicsof theRubidgeinaeis the best resolved due to their distinctive character traits. Thesystematicsof othergorgonopsiansubfamilies remain chaotic due to a high degree ofcranialhomomorphism betweentaxa,making it difficult to distinguish different taxa effectively.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]The cladogram below (Kammerer and Rubidge 2022) displays the currently acceptedsystematicrelationships of theGorgonopsia.[22]

Gorgonopsia

Correlation

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Numeroustherapsidspecies,includingrubidgenaegorgonopsids,are used asbiostratigraphic markersin other African Basins, such as the Upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation ofZambia,and the Chiweta Beds ofMalawi.[23]Rubidgeafossils have been recovered from theUsili FormationofTanzania,indicatingbiostratigraphiccorrelation with upperPermian-aged deposits inSouth Africa.[24]Norubidgeinaefossils have been found outside of African deposits to date, although theInostranceviinaeare considered to be their Russian counterparts.

References

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  1. ^Rubidge, Bruce S.; Sidor, Christian A. (2001). "Evolutionary Patterns Among Permo-Triassic Therapsids".Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics.32(1): 449–480.doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.32.081501.114113.
  2. ^CHINSAMY-TURAN, ANUSUYA (2011-11-18).Forerunners of Mammals: Radiation • Histology • Biology.Indiana University Press.ISBN9780253005335.
  3. ^Lingham-Soliar, Theagarten (2014). "Mammal-Like Reptiles". In Lingham-Soliar, Theagarten (ed.).The Vertebrate Integument Volume 1: Origin and Evolution.Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 193–219.doi:10.1007/978-3-642-53748-6_8.ISBN9783642537486.
  4. ^Day Michael O.; Ramezani Jahandar; Bowring Samuel A.; Sadler Peter M.; Erwin Douglas H.; Abdala Fernando; Rubidge Bruce S. (2015-07-22)."When and how did the terrestrial mid-Permian mass extinction occur? Evidence from the tetrapod record of the Karoo Basin, South Africa".Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.282(1811): 20150834.doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.0834.PMC4528552.PMID26156768.
  5. ^Viglietti, P.A.; Smith, R.M.; Angielczyk, K.D.; Kammerer, C.F.; Fröbisch, J.; Rubidge, B.S. (January 2016). "TheDaptocephalusAssemblage Zone (Lopingian), South Africa: a proposed biostratigraphy based on a new compilation of stratigraphic ranges ".Journal of African Earth Sciences.113:153–164.Bibcode:2016JAfES.113..153V.doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.10.011.
  6. ^Broom, Robert. "20. On a New Family of Carnivorous Therapsids from the Karroo Beds of South Africa." In Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, vol. 108, no. 3, pp. 527-533. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 1938.
  7. ^Kitching, J. W. (1953)."Studies on new specimens of the Gorgonopsia".Palaeontologia Africana.
  8. ^Cruickshank, A. R. I. (1973)."THE MODE OF LIFE OF GORGONOPSIANS".Palaeontologia Africana.ISSN0078-8554.
  9. ^abKammerer, Christian F. (2016-01-26)."Systematics of the Rubidgeinae (Therapsida: Gorgonopsia)".PeerJ.4:e1608.doi:10.7717/peerj.1608.ISSN2167-8359.PMC4730894.PMID26823998.
  10. ^Jenkins, Ian; Valkenburgh, Blaire Van (2002-10-01). "Evolutionary Patterns in the History of Permo-Triassic and Cenozoic Synapsid Predators".The Paleontological Society Papers.8:267–288.doi:10.1017/S1089332600001121.ISSN1089-3326.
  11. ^Kermack, Doris M.; Kermack, Kenneth A. (1984), Kermack, Doris M.; Kermack, Kenneth A. (eds.), "Dentitions, Tooth-Replacement and Jaw Articulation",The Evolution of Mammalian Characters,Springer US, pp. 66–88,doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-7817-4_5,ISBN9781468478174
  12. ^Kemp T. S.; Parrington Francis Rex (1969-09-04)."On the functional morphology of the gorgonopsid skull".Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.256(801): 1–83.Bibcode:1969RSPTB.256....1K.doi:10.1098/rstb.1969.0036.S2CID58926603.
  13. ^Sigogneau, D. (1968)."On the classification of the Gorgonopsia".Palaeontologia Africana.ISSN0078-8554.
  14. ^Sigogneau-Russell, D., 1989. Theriodontia 1: Phthinosuchia, Eotitanosuchia, Gorgonopsia.
  15. ^Martins, Rui M. S.; Fröbisch, Jörg; Polcyn, Michael J.; Fernandez, Vincent; Araujo, Ricardo M. (2017-02-21)."Aspects of gorgonopsian paleobiology and evolution: insights from the basicranium, occiput, osseous labyrinth, vasculature, and neuroanatomy".PeerJ.5:e3119.doi:10.7717/peerj.3119.PMC5390774.PMID28413721.
  16. ^Norton, Luke Allan (2013-02-01).Relative growth and morphological variation in the skull of Aelurognathus (therapsida: gorgonopsia)(Thesis).
  17. ^Gebauer, Eva V. I. (2014), "Re-assessment of the Taxonomic Position of the Specimen GPIT/RE/7113 (Sauroctonus parringtonicomb. Nov., Gorgonopsia) ", in Kammerer, Christian F.; Angielczyk, Kenneth D.; Fröbisch, Jörg (eds.),Early Evolutionary History of the Synapsida,Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, Springer Netherlands, pp. 185–207,doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6841-3_12,ISBN9789400768413
  18. ^Kammerer, Christian F. (2014), "A Redescription ofEriphostoma microdonBroom, 1911 (Therapsida, Gorgonopsia) from theTapinocephalusAssemblage Zone of South Africa and a Review of Middle Permian Gorgonopsians ", in Kammerer, Christian F.; Angielczyk, Kenneth D.; Fröbisch, Jörg (eds.),Early Evolutionary History of the Synapsida,Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, Springer Netherlands, pp. 171–184,doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6841-3_11,ISBN9789400768413
  19. ^Kammerer, Christian F. (2015)."Cranial osteology ofArctognathus curvimola,a short-snouted gorgonopsian from the Late Permian of South Africa ".Papers in Palaeontology.1(1): 41–58.doi:10.1002/spp2.1002.ISSN2056-2802.
  20. ^Kammerer, Christian F.; Smith, Roger M. H.; Day, Michael O.; Rubidge, Bruce S. (2015). "New information on the morphology and stratigraphic range of the mid-Permian gorgonopsianEriphostoma microdonBroom, 1911 ".Papers in Palaeontology.1(2): 201–221.doi:10.1002/spp2.1012.ISSN2056-2802.S2CID128762256.
  21. ^Fröbisch, Jörg; Fernandez, Vincent; Kardjilov, Nikolay; Kammerer, Christian F.; Bendel, Eva-Maria (2018-11-28)."Cranial anatomy of the gorgonopsianCynariops robustusbased on CT-reconstruction ".PLOS ONE.13(11): e0207367.Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1307367B.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0207367.ISSN1932-6203.PMC6261584.PMID30485338.
  22. ^Kammerer, C. F.; Rubidge, B. S. (2022). "The earliest gorgonopsians from the Karoo Basin of South Africa".Journal of African Earth Sciences.194:104631.Bibcode:2022JAfES.19404631K.doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2022.104631.S2CID249977414.
  23. ^Maisch, M.W., 2002. Observations on Karoo and Gondwana vertebrates. Part 3: Notes on the gorgonopsians from the Upper Permian of Tanzania. Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Palaontologie-Monatshefte, (4), pp.237-251.
  24. ^Parrington, F. R. "A new genus of gorgonopsid from East Africa." Annals of the South African Museum 64 (1974): 47-52.
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