Volume 221, October 2015, Pages 47–51
Darwin, Hooker and Arruda Furtado and the palaeobotany of Azores: Rediscovering the first collections
Abstract
The
historical investigation of the palaeobotany of the Azores Islands led
to the recent rediscovery of the leaf fossils initially collected by
Arruda Furtado in the late 19th century. Advised by Sir Charles Darwin
and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker to search for plant fossils, Arruda Furtado
found the first specimens in São Miguel Island, and sent them to the UK
for further identification. A recent search at the Natural History
Museum, UK, revealed that from a total of sixteen specimens, only one
specimen survived. In the same tray, two undescribed specimens from
Furnas (São Miguel) were found. Here we describe and identify them as Woodwardia radicans, Laurus azorica
and an unidentified fern. The taphonomy indicates that these fossils
were preserved in a trachytic tuff, possibly related to the explosive
episodes of the Furnas volcano, indicating that they could be late
Pleistocene to Holocene in age. This report aims to highlight the
potential of future palaeobotanical studies of the Azores Islands.
Keywords
- Collection;
- Plant fossil;
- 19th century;
- Paleoecology;
- Azores Islands;
- Macaronesia
- Corresponding author. Tel.:
+ 351 291 705 000.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
