Acer taggarti facts for kids

Acer taggarti is an extinct type of maple tree. It's known only from fossils, mainly leaves and seeds (which look like little wings). Scientists found these fossils in Miocene rocks in central Oregon, United States. This ancient maple belongs to a group of maples called Rubra, which includes some maples alive today.

Discovering Acer taggarti

Scientists found fossils of A. taggarti in central Oregon. These fossils were found in two places: the White Hills site and the Meadow site. Both places are part of a rock layer called the Mascall Formation. This formation formed from old lake beds and lava flows.

Long ago, during the Miocene period, this area was warm and wet. It had cool winters and warm, dry summers. This climate was perfect for plants to grow.

How Scientists Studied the Fossils

In 1959, two scientists, Ralph Chaney and Daniel Axelrod, first looked at these maple fossils. They thought the fossils belonged to three different maple species.

Later, in 1987, two other paleobotanists (scientists who study ancient plants), Jack A. Wolfe and Toshimasa Tanai, re-examined the fossils. They realized some of them were from a new, unknown maple species.

They named this new species A. taggarti. The name honors Ralph E. Taggart, who helped them access fossil collections.

Where the Fossils Are Kept

The main fossil specimen, called the holotype, is a leaf from the Meadow site. It's kept at the University of California Museum of Paleontology. Many other fossil leaves and seeds, called paratypes, are also stored there.

Family Tree of Ancient Maples

Wolfe and Tanai studied many maple fossils from the Mascall Formation. They grouped them into different sections, like families within the maple genus. A. taggarti was placed in a section called "Eriocarpa," which is now part of the "Rubra" section.

They believed that A. taggarti might have descended from another ancient maple called Acer whitebirdense. This idea came from looking at how similar their leaves were.

What Acer taggarti Looked Like

Acer taggarti had simple leaves, meaning they weren't divided into smaller leaflets. They had a unique shape, a bit like an egg, but slightly uneven. The leaf stems, called petioles, were about 0.9 to 1.4 centimeters (0.35 to 0.55 inches) long.

Leaves

The leaves usually had three to five lobes, but most often three. The side lobes were quite long, at least two-thirds the length of the middle lobe. The edges of the leaves had small "teeth" or points.

These leaves were fairly small, ranging from about 2.5 cm (1 inch) to 6 cm (2.4 inches) long. They were between 3.2 cm (1.3 inches) and 7.5 cm (3 inches) wide. The leaves had a network of veins, which helped scientists identify them.

Seeds

The seeds of A. taggarti were samaras, which are winged seeds like those of modern maples. The main part of the seed, called the nutlet, was at the bottom. It was about 0.6 to 1.2 cm (0.24 to 0.47 inches) long.

A wing extended from the nutlet, helping the seed to spin and fly through the air. These wings were about 2.2 to 3.5 cm (0.87 to 1.4 inches) long. The way the veins spread out in the wing also helped scientists classify these ancient seeds.