''Langeria'' 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 of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the family

Platanaceae Platanaceae, the "plane-tree family", is a family of flowering plants in the order Proteales. The family consists of only a single extant genus ''Platanus'', with eight known species. The plants are tall trees, native to temperate and subtropic ...

containing the solitary species ''Langeria magnifica''. ''Langeria'' is known from

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 found in the early

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

deposits of northern

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, United States and similar aged formations in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada.

Distribution

''Langeria magnifica'' has been identified from a series of locations ranging from the

Klondike Mountain Formation The Klondike Mountain Formation is an Early Eocene (Ypresian) geological formation located in the northeast central area of Washington state. The formation, named for the type location designated in 1962, Klondike Mountain north of Republic, Wash ...

near

Republic, Washington Republic is a city in Ferry County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,073 at the 2010 census, a 12.5% increase over the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Ferry County. It was the largest mining camp in the Republic Mining Distr ...

north. At least three locations in British Columbia have ''Langeria'' fossils, including the

Coldwater Beds The Coldwater Beds are a geologic formation of the Okanagan Highlands in British Columbia, Canada. They preserve fossils dating back to the Ypresian stage of the Eocene period, or Wasatchian in the NALMA classification.Merritt, the Tranquille Formations

McAbee Fossil Beds The McAbee Fossil Beds is a Heritage Site that protects an Eocene Epoch fossil locality east of Cache Creek, British Columbia, Canada, just north of and visible from Provincial Highway 97 / the Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1). The McAbee Fos ...

near

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

, and the

Chu Chua Formation Chu or CHU may refer to: Chinese history * Chu (state) (c. 1030 BC–223 BC), a state during the Zhou dynasty * Western Chu (206 BC–202 BC), a state founded and ruled by Xiang Yu * Chu Kingdom (Han dynasty) (201 BC–70 AD), a kingdom of the H ...

s Joseph Creek site near Chu Chua. Generally speaking, the age for the locations is

Early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age or lowest stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by the Eocene Lutetian Age. The Ypresian i ...

, with the sites that have current uranium–lead or argon–argon radiometric dates being of

Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

age, while the undated sites and sites with less current dating being possibly slightly younger and

Lutetian The Lutetian is, in the geologic timescale, a stage or age in the Eocene. It spans the time between . The Lutetian is preceded by the Ypresian and is followed by the Bartonian. Together with the Bartonian it is sometimes referred to as the Midd ...

in age.

History and classification

''Langeria magnifica'' was described from a series of

type specimens In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

, the actual

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

specimen being UW 39713, in the paleobotanical collections of

Burke Museum The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Burke Museum) is a natural history museum in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. Established in 1899 as the Washington State Museum, it traces its origins to a high school naturalist club fo ...

, University of Washington, and its counterpart being UCMP 9273, currently preserved in the

University of California Museum of Paleontology The University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) is a paleontology museum located on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. The museum is within the Valley Life Sciences Building (VLSB), designed by George W. Kelham and ...

. An additional eight leaves from both the Burke Museum and UC Museum of Paleontology were designated

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype nor a syntype). Of ...

s specimens. Working from those specimens, collected in the

area in the early 1980s, the fossils were studied by Jack A. Wolfe of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

and

Wesley C. Wehr Wesley Conrad Wehr (April 17, 1929 – April 12, 2004) was an American paleontology, paleontologist and artist best known for his studies of Cenozoic paleobotany, fossil floras in western North America, the Stonerose Interpretive Center, and as ...

of the Burke Museum. They 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 the genus and species in a

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

on the North Eastern Washington dicot fossils. The genus name ''Langeria'' is a

matronym A matronymic is a personal name based on the given name of one's mother, grandmother, or any female ancestor. It is the female equivalent of a patronymic. Around the world, matronymic surnames are far less common than patronymic surnames. In som ...

honoring the American

philosopher of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are addre ...

, Susanne K. Langer, who influenced the analysis and organization of scientific data. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''magnifica'' would imply "magnificently large". Wolfe and Wehr note that the extinct species '' "Fortunearia" weedi'' is distinctly similar to ''Langeria magnifica'' and might turn out to be

congeneric Congener may refer to: * A thing or person of the same kind as another, or of the same group. * Congener (biology), organisms within the same genus. * Congener (chemistry), related chemicals, e.g., elements in the same group of the periodic table. ...

. When first described, ''L. magnifica'' was placed in the family

Hamamelidaceae Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier system ...

, commonly known as the

witch-hazel Witch-hazels or witch hazels (''Hamamelis'') are a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with three species in North America ('' H. ovalis'', '' H. virginiana'', and '' H. vernalis''), and one each in Japan ('' H.&nb ...

family, by Wolfe and Wehr. This placement was later questioned and the genus was subsequently reclassified by Indah Huegele and Steven Manchester (2022) as a member of the

plane tree ''Platanus'' is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. All except f ...

family

Description

The simple leaves of ''Langeria magnifica'' are generally

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

in venation with an overall ovate to elliptical shape and an apex that is notably pointed. The petiole can reach lengths of up to The margin of the leaf has evenly spaced, distinct hook-shaped teeth with rounded

sinuses Paranasal sinuses are a group of four paired air-filled spaces that surround the nasal cavity. The maxillary sinuses are located under the eyes; the frontal sinuses are above the eyes; the ethmoidal sinuses are between the eyes and the sphenoid ...

separating them. The teeth are entered by a secondary vein or by a veinlet from the loop of a secondary vein. The primary vein has between ten and twelve secondary veins diverging from it at low angles toward the apex and getting higher in angle towards the base. The simple or forking tertiary veins diverge from the apart, and the quaternary ones form a coarse reticulated pattern surrounding the

areole In botany, areoles are small light- to dark-colored bumps on cacti out of which grow clusters of spines. Areoles are important diagnostic features of cacti, and identify them as a family distinct from other succulent plants. Gordon Rowley - W ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18345070 † Prehistoric angiosperm genera Ypresian plants of North America Monotypic Saxifragales genera Extinct flora of North America Coldwater Beds Chu Chua Formation Klondike Mountain Formation Tranquille Formation