Rubidgea

Rubidgea is a genus of gorgonopsian from the upper Permian of South Africa and Tanzania, containing the species Rubidgea atrox. The generic name Rubidgea is sometimes believed to be derived from the surname of renowned Karoo paleontologist, Professor Bruce Rubidge, who has contributed to much of the research conducted on therapsids of the Karoo 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 name atrox is derived from Latin, meaning "fierce, savage, terrible". Rubidgea is part of the gorgonopsian subfamily Rubidgeinae, a derived group of large-bodied gorgonopsians restricted to the Late Permian (Lopingian). The subfamily Rubidgeinae first appeared in the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone. They reached their highest diversity in the Cistecephalus and Daptocephalus assemblage zones of the Beaufort Group in South Africa.

==History of discovery== The first Rubidgea fossil was discovered by C. J. M. "Croonie" Kitching, the father of renowned paleontologist James Kitching, on the farm Doornberg outside the small town Nieu-Bethesda during the early 1930s. In a paper published in 1938, Robert Broom named the fossil Rubidgea kitchingi. Broom noted the large size of the new gorgonopsid fossil, stating that it was a new species. Subsequent discoveries in the following decades confirmed Broom's suspicions that a new subfamily of gorgonopsians should be categorised, and the Rubidgeinae was erected.