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''Carya washingtonensis'' 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 ...
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 appropriat ...
of
hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes around 18 species. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), as many as twelve are native to the United States, four are found in Mex ...
nut in the
walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
family
Juglandaceae The Juglandaceae are a plant family known as the walnut family. They are trees, or sometimes shrubs, in the order Fagales. Members of this family are native to the Americas, Eurasia, and Southeast Asia. The nine or ten genera in the family have ...
. The species is solely known from the
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
Kittitas County Kittitas County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. At the 2020 census, its population was 44,337. Its county seat and largest city is Ellensburg. The county was created in November 1883 when it was carved out of Yakima ...
near
Ellensburg, Washington Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 and Interstate 82. The population was 18,666 at the 2020 census. and was ...
.


Type locality

The species was described from the three nut specimens, all found at the no-longer-accessible Badger Pocket-Squaw Creek locality south of
Ellensburg Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 and Interstate 82. The population was 18,666 at the 2020 census. and wa ...
, which is now part of the
Yakima Training Center The Yakima Training Center (YTC) is a United States Army training center, used for maneuver training, Land Warrior system testing and as a live fire exercise area. It is located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Washington, bou ...
. This locality is thought to be an extension of the Ginkgo Flow basalts, notable for the fossils found at
Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park/Wanapum Recreational Area is a geologic preserve and public recreation area covering on the western shoreline of the Columbia River's Wanapum Reservoir at Vantage, Washington. Petrified wood was discovered in t ...
. The Ginkgo Flow, part of the Wanapum basalts is the oldest segment of the Frenchman Springs Member, dating to around 15.6 million years old, or the Langhian stage of the
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 ...
.Miocene Woods Of Eastern Washington
Accessed 23 May 2011
The nuts were originally discovered as a single
silicified In geology, petrifaction or petrification () is the process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with minerals. Petrified wood typifies this p ...
,
opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline form ...
ized mass of well over fifty nuts found in a petrified ''
Platanus ''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 excep ...
'' stump. The mass was discovered in the 1940s by Carl Clinesmith but as of 1987 the mass was lost and Steven Manchester presumed it was disaggregated with the individual nuts disseminated to various collections. However it is reported in a 1995 '' Washington Geology'' article by
Wesley Wehr Wesley Conrad Wehr (April 17, 1929 – April 12, 2004) was an American paleontologist and artist best known for his studies of Cenozoic fossil floras in western North America, the Stonerose Interpretive Center, and as a part of the Northwest ...
the specimen was, at that time, on display at the
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture 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 ...
, part of the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...
in
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...
, USA. At least a portion of the mass is still preserved in the collections at the Burke Museum as specimen number "UWBM38700".


History and classification

''Carya washingtonensis'' was described from three
type specimen 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 th ...
s, the
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 seve ...
, number "HU60073A", and two
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). O ...
s, numbers "HU60073B" and "IU5343". Both the holotype and one paratype are preserved in the paleobotanical collections housed at the Harvard University Biology Laboratories. The second paratype is deposited in the paleobotanical collections in the Indiana university, Department of Geology. The specimens were 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 ...
Steven R. Manchester, currently of the Florida State University Department of Geology as part of his PhD dissertation and was accepted for publication in 1984. Steven Manchester published his 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 ''C. washingtonensis'' in the journal '' Monographs in Systematic Botany''. The chosen specific name ''washingtonensis'', in reference to
Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...
where only known specimens of the species have been recovered.


Description

The nuts of ''Carya washingtonensis'' are globose in shape, with a smooth to slightly wrinkled surface. They show four faintly developed angles at the apex. The nuts range in size but are all within in length and in width. While the preservation quality varies, the silicification in a number of the specimens was enough to allow examination of the internal anatomy. In general the nut wall and septa are approximately thick without and do not have lacunae but do possess a secondary septum. The
locule A locule (plural locules) or loculus (plural loculi) (meaning "little place" in Latin) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus). In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usu ...
is divided into four compartments basally with inner ribs that are well developed and containing vascular bundles and the placentary bundles of primary
septum In biology, a septum (Latin for ''something that encloses''; plural septa) is a wall, dividing a cavity or structure into smaller ones. A cavity or structure divided in this way may be referred to as septate. Examples Human anatomy * Interat ...
arch out peripherally. When described by Steven Manchester, the mass was interpreted to represent a Miocene rodent nut cache and was the oldest known at that time. Since then a slightly older cache was discovered in Germany. The German cache of ''
Castanopsis ''Castanopsis'', commonly called chinquapin or chinkapin, is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae. The genus contains about 140 species, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia. A total o ...
'' fruits was found in a preserved
sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...
dating to the Burdigalian stage of the Miocene, making it slightly older than the ''Carya washingtonensis'' cache.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5047672 washingtonensis Prehistoric angiosperms Plants described in 1987 Miocene plants Trees of the Northwestern United States Extinct flora of North America Fossil taxa described in 1987