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| Ruta museocanariensis Marrero Rodr., Vidal Matutano, Delgado Darias & Jaén Molina, in Marrero-Rodríguez, Vidal-Matutano, Delgado-Darias, Jaén-Molina, Morales-Mateos, Alberto-Barroso & Velasco-Vázquez, 2023. |
Abstract
Based on analyses carried out with plant material found in mummy shrouds preserved in the archaeological museum El Museo Canario, a putatively extinct new species of Ruta (Rutaceae) was identified and is described here as Ruta museocanariensis. The mummies were found in the funerary sites of Acusa and the Barranco de Guayadeque on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. This article discusses taxonomic relationships with other species of the genus, aspects of colonization and evolutionary processes on islands. The archaeological plant material consists of vegetative and reproductive branches with leaves, remains of flowers and capsules. Several morphological traits, especially the type of fruits, establish a clear difference between Ruta species from Gran Canaria and the mainland (dehiscent) and species from the W Canary Islands (indehiscent). The discovery of R. museocanariensis, with dehiscent fruits, suggests that indehiscence is a post-colonization evolutionary process in the Canary Islands. It also supports a stepping-stone model of inter-island colonization with Gran Canaria as its starting point, in agreement with the age of the islands and to some extent with their distance from the mainland.
KEYWORDS: archaeobotany, Canary Islands, El Museo Canario, evolutionary process, extinct new species, mummy shrouds, Ruta, Rutaceae
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| Ruta museocanariensis A: habit, terminal branch; B: pinna on one side of rachis, adaxial view; C: pedicel, calyx and ovary; D: terminal infructescence twig with open, star-shaped fruit, persistent calyces, bracteoles and immature fruit still closed; E: mature capsules showing dehiscence of valves, basal (left) and apical (right) views. – Image reconstructed from various twigs and fruits in different maturation stages extracted from infant mummy EMC no. 49991 (holotype and isotype) and branches and leaves extracted from adult mummy EMC no. 10 (paratypes). – Drawn by Á. Marrero. |
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| A: infant mummy EMC no. 49991, from which holotype and isotype specimens of Ruta museocanariensis were extracted; B: adult mummy EMC no. 10, from the shroud (wrapped in layers of leather) of which the two paratype specimens were extracted; C: branch bundle EMC no. 46558. – Photographs by T. Delgado, El Museo Canario. |
Ruta museocanariensis Marrero Rodr., Vidal Matutano, Delgado Darias & Jaén Molina, sp. nov.
Etymology — The specific epithet refers to the scientific entity of El Museo Canario, the institution where the mummies, branch bundle and type specimens are deposited.
Águedo Marrero-Rodríguez, Paloma Vidal-Matutano, Teresa Delgado-Darias, Ruth Jaén-Molina, Jacob Morales-Mateos, Verónica Alberto-Barroso and Javier Velasco-Vázquez. 2023. Can Material of A putatively Extinct New Species of Ruta (Rutaceae), preserved with Mummies, provide New Knowledge About Evolution in the Canary Islands Flora? Willdenowia. 53 (1); 5-23. DOI: 10.3372/wi.53.53101