In Depth
Rubidgea is a genus of gorgonopsid that is known to have lived in South Africa during the Wuchiapingian stage of the Permian. Gorgonopsids are noted for having large canine teeth that projected down from the upper jaw, but Rubidgea seems to have had particularly large canine teeth when compared to other gorgonopsids. These teeth were likely the primary weapons for biting through the tough hides of prey animals to deliver devastating bites.
In the past Rubidgea was treated as something of a wastebasket taxon with numerous species assigned to the genus. Later study however has now come to the conclusion that only the type species of Rubidgea, R. atrox, is valid, with other species being synonymous with either this type species or other genera. A PHD thesis by Gebauer in 2007 came to the opinion that the genus Tigrisaurus, and a species of Dinogorgon (D. quinquemolaris) should be transferred to Rubidgea as synonyms. However at the time of writing (2014), Dinogorgon quinquemolaris is still commonly treated as a valid species, while Tigrisaurus has been reclassified as a species of Dinogorgon, D. pricei.
Further Reading
- A contribution to our knowledge of the vertebrates of the Karroo beds of south Africa. - Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, v. 61, part 2, n. 21, p. 577-629. - Robert Broom - 1948. - Phylogeny and evolution of the Gorgonopsia with a special reference to the skull and skeleton of GPIT/RE/7113 (‘Aelurognathus?’ parringtoni) [Ph.D. thesis]. - T�bingen: Eberhard-Karls Universit�t T�bingen. pp. 1–316. - E. V. I. Gebauer - 2007.
