''Acer ferrignoi'' is an extinct

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in the family

Sapindaceae The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee. The Sapindaceae occur in tempera ...

described from a group of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

. The species is known from

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

sediments exposed in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, US. It is one of several extinct species belonging to the living

section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sign ...

'' Rubra''.

History and classification

''Acer ferrignoi'' is known from a small group of fossils from a late Miocene fossil site listed as USGS 9737. The site is located near Lolo Pass in the northern

Cascade mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

. The fossils were first studied by

paleobotanist Paleobotany, which is also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeogr ...

Jack A. Wolfe Jack Albert Wolfe (1936–2005) was a United States Geological Survey paleobotanist and paleoclimatologist best known for his studies of Tertiary climate in western North America through analysis of fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin ...

of the United States Geological Survey, Denver office and Toshimasa Tanai of

Hokkaido University , or , is a Japanese national university in Sapporo, Hokkaido. It was the fifth Imperial University in Japan, which were established to be the nation's finest institutions of higher education or research. Hokkaido University is considered ...

. They determined that fossils belonged to an undescribed ''Acer'' section ''Eriocarpa'' species. Wolfe and Tanai published their 1987

type description A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

for ''A. ferrignoi'' in the ''Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University''. The

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

of the chosen

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''ferrignoi'' is in recognition of James P. Ferrigno, who located and supplied access to collections of fossils housed in the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

. At the time of description the ''A. ferrignoi'' holotype specimen, number NMNH 396125, along with the four paratypes were part of the National Museum of Natural History collections. Wolfe and Tanai suggested ''A. ferrignoi'' may be a late Miocene descendant of ''

Acer chaneyi ''Acer chaneyi'' is an extinct maple species in the family Sapindaceae described from a number of fossil leaves and samaras. The species is known from Oligocene to Miocene sediments exposed in Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington in th ...

'' which lived from the late Oligocene to the Middle Miocene before going extinct. While ''A. cheneyi'' leaves sometimes have three lobes as in ''A. ferrignoi'', more often they were five lobed, which is not seen in ''A. ferrignoi''. The similarity in the structure and concave outlines between the two species' lateral lobes were major factors in Wolfe and Tanai's suggestion of relation between the two species. Following the ''Acer'' taxonomy structure defined by Japanese botanist

Ken Ogata , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese actor. Life Ogata was born in Tokyo, Japan. Ogata is well known for his roles in Peter Greenaway's ''The Pillow Book'', Paul Schrader's '' Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters'' and Shohei Imamura's ...

, they placed the species and related fossils into the ''Acer'' section ''Eriocarpa''. Later work on the systematics of the genus resulted in section ''Eriocarpa'' being included into section ''Rubra''.

Description

Leaves of ''Acer ferrignoi'' are simple in structure, with perfectly actinodromous vein structure and range from

ovate Ovate may refer to: *Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe *Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd *Vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovat ...

to widely ovate in shape. The base of each leaf is rounded, with the petiole ranging up to . The leaves are dissected into three lobes, with the lateral lobes being one half to three quarters as long as the median lobe. The median lobe is generally triangular in outline and the two lateral lobes are narrow and triangular. There are three primary veins with between three and ten secondary veins branching off from the outer primaries. The secondary veins branch from the primaries at angles of 40° to 70° and run straight to the margins or arch gradually with external vein forks that reach the margins.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28432743 ferrignoi Extinct flora of North America Flora of North America † † Fossil taxa described in 1987 Miocene plants Plants described in 1987