''Clelandina'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of rubidgeine

gorgonopsia Gorgonopsia (from the Greek Gorgon, a mythological beast, and 'aspect') is an extinct clade of sabre-toothed therapsids from the Middle to Upper Permian roughly 265 to 252 million years ago. They are characterised by a long and narrow skull, a ...

n from the

Late Permian Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

of ''Cistecephalus'' Assemblage Zone of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It was first named by

Broom A broom (also known in some forms as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. I ...

in 1948. The type and only species is ''C. rubidgei''. It is relatively rare, with only four known specimens.

Description

''Clelandina rubidgei'' has an extraordinarily small

sclerotic ring Sclerotic rings are rings of bone found in the eyes of many animals in several groups of vertebrates, except for mammals and crocodilians. They can be made up of single bones or multiple segments and take their name from the sclera. They are bel ...

relative to the size of its orbit, which implies that it was diurnal. It is the only rubidgeine with a preserved sclerotic ring, so it is unknown whether this trait was shared by other members of the subfamily. Like all rubidgeines, it was relatively large, with a skull up to 36 cm long. It had reduced dentition, with the teeth posterior to the

canines Canine may refer to: Zoology and anatomy * a dog-like Canid animal in the subfamily Caninae ** ''Canis'', a genus including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals ** Dog, the domestic dog * Canine tooth, in mammalian oral anatomy People with the surn ...

being absent and replaced with a bony ridge. The skull has heavily pachyostosed, with massive rugose bosses.

Classification

''Clelandina'' shares many characteristics with the contemporary ''

Rubidgea ''Rubidgea'' is a genus of Gorgonopsia, gorgonopsid 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 Kar ...

'', and is currently recognized as the sister taxon of this genus. Together with ''

Dinogorgon ''Dinogorgon'' is a genus of gorgonopsid from the Late Permian of South Africa and Tanzania. The generic name ''Dinogorgon'' is derived from Greek, meaning "terrible gorgon", while its species name ''rubidgei'' is taken from the surname of renown ...

'' and ''

Leontosaurus ''Leontosaurus'' is an extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsids from the Dicynodon Assemblage Zone, ''Dicynodon'' Assemblage Zone, Balfour Formation of South Africa. It contains the single species ''L. vanderhorsti''. See also * List of syn ...

'', these genera form

Rubidgeini Rubidgeinae is an extinct subfamily of gorgonopsid therapsids known only from Africa. They were among the largest gorgonopsians, and their fossils are common in the Cistecephalus and Daptocephalus assemblage zones of the Karoo Basin. They lived ...

, a clade of large gorgonopsians with distinctively robust, broad, and pachyostosed skulls. Below is a cladogram recovered by Christian Kammerer in 2016.

Description

Classification

See also

References

Further reading