Electronic Flora of South Australia Species Fact Sheet

Jania pusilla (Sonder) Yendo 1905: 39.

Phylum Rhodophyta – Class Florideophyceae – Order Corallinales – Family Corallinaceae – Subfamily Corallinoideae – Tribe Janieae

Selected citations: Ducker et al. 1976: 1, figs 1,3–7,9–14. Johansen & Womersley 1994: 618, figs 17,18,40.

Synonyms

Corallina pusilla Sonder 1881: 21. Tisdall 1898: 508.

Corallina lenormandiana Grunow ex De Toni 1905: 1851. Lucas & Perrin 1947: 400. Mazza 1918: No. 654. Womersley 1950: 167.

Corallina? nana Lenormand ex Harvey 1863, synop.: xxix. Tisdall 1898: 508. Wilson 1892: 176. (non Corallina nana Zanardini 1844: 1024.)

Thallus (Fig. 139A, B) medium red to red-brown, fading to grey-red, 2–5 (–10) mm high, epiphytic on Cystophora spp. and Platythalia angustifolia. Fronds 3–10 (–12) intergenicula long, complanately branched every one or two intergenicula. Intergenicula subterete below, compressed and ovate to cuneate above, increasing in size upwards, 400–1200 µm long, 200–600 (–800) µm broad and 180–340 µm thick, 300–500 µm thick where conceptacles are present. Holdfasts discoid to pulvinate crusts, 200–1000 µm across, bearing up to 12 fronds each. Structure. Medullary cell tiers indistinct (Fig. 139C). Genicula (80–) 100–160 (–200) µm long.

Reproduction: Gametangial thalli dioecious; conceptacles deeply embedded and inconspicuous, terminal, or bearing simple branches. Female conceptacles internal diameter 100–200 µm when procarpic and 300–450 µm when carposporangial (Fig. 139D), with a thick fusion cell (Fig. 139D, E); carposporangia subspherical to ovoid, 100–160 µm in diameter. Male conceptacles (Fig. 139F) internally 130–360 µm in diameter and 350–560 µm high, canal about 100 µm long.

Tetrasporangial conceptacles (Fig. 139G) usually bearing two branches; internal diameter 300–450 µm; tetrasporangia 200–420 µm long and 100–160 µm in diameter.

Type from Port Fairy, Vic., on Cystophora (Harvey, Alg. Aust. Exsicc. 452); holotype (or lectotype) in TCD. Ducker et al. (1976, p. 6), selected a MEL (501722) specimen of Harvey's 452 as lectotype, but it would be a more usual practice to regard the holotype (or lectotype if necessary) to be in the Harvey herbarium in TCD.

Selected specimens: Yallingup, W. Aust., on Platythalia angustifolia, drift (Smith & Scagel, Sept. 1962; UWA, A364; AD, A26353). Point Valiant, Two People Bay, W. Aust., on Cystophora harveyi, sublittoral fringe (Womersley, 30.viii.1979; AD, A50972 -"Marine Algae of southern Australia" No. 333). Head of Great Australian Bight, S. Aust., on C. subfarcinata, drift (Womersley, 4.ii.1954; AD, A19194). Cape Carnot, S. Aust., on C. subfarcinata, in sublittoral pools (Womersley, 8.i.1951; AD, A13832). Louth Bay, S. Aust., on C. subfarcinata, upper sublittoral (Womersley, 4.i.1951; AD, A13659). S side of Ellen Point, Vivonne Bay, Kangaroo I., S. Aust., on C. subfarcinata, in large sublittoral pool (Womersley, 29.i.1957; AD, A20792). Pennington Bay, Kangaroo I., S. Aust., on C. congesta, drift (Womersley, 31.xii.1949; AD, Al2852). Port Elliot, S. Aust., on C. congesta, drift (Womersley, 17.x.1948; AD, A9406). Apollo Bay, Vic., on C. siliquosa in upper sublittoral pools (Johansen 81–9–1, 1.ix.1981; AD, A52606). Cape Patterson, Vic., on C. siliquosa, drift (Ducker, 18.v.1972; MELU, 21418). Granville Harbour, Tas., on Cystophora, 1–4 m deep (Blackman 79–11, 27.i.1979; AD, A58553).

Distribution map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of SA

Distribution: Yallingup, W. Aust., to Cape Patterson, Vic., and the NW coast (at least) of Tasmania.

Taxonomic notes: Jania pusilla is distinctive in size and habit, and common on species of Cystophora (especially C. subfarcinata) in shallow water on rough-water coasts in southern Australia; it was described in detail by Ducker et al. (1976). It is characterised by small fronds with unusually broad intergenicula. Jania radiata Yendo (see Segawa 1946) from Japan, resembles J. pusilla except that it has more delicate fronds.

References:

DE TONI, G.B. (1905). Sylloge Algarum omnium hucusque Cognitarum. Vol. 4. Florideae. Sect. 4, pp. 1523–1973. (Padua.)

HARVEY, W.H. (1863). Phycologia Australica. Vol. 5, Plates 241–300, synop., pp. i-lxxiii. (Reeve: London.)

JOHANSEN, H.W. & WOMERSLEY, H.B.S. (1994). Jania (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) in southern Australia. Aust. Syst. Bot. 7, 605–625.

LUCAS, A.H.S. & PERRIN, F. (1947). The Seaweeds of South Australia. Part 2. The Red Seaweeds. (Govt Printer: Adelaide.)

SEGAWA, S. (1946). Systematic anatomy of the articulated corallines. (X). Jania radiata Yendo. Seibutsu 1, 151–156.

SONDER, O.W. (1881). In Mueller, F., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. Supplementum ad volumen undecinum: Algae Australianae hactenus cognitae, pp. 1–42, 105–107. (Melbourne.)

TISDALL, H.T. (1898). The algae of Victoria. Rep. 7th Meet. Aust. Ass. Adv. Sci., Sydney, 1898, pp. 493–516.

WILSON, J.B. (1892). Catalogue of algae collected at or near Port Phillip Heads and Western Port. Proc. R. Soc. Vict. 4, 157–190.

WOMERSLEY, H.B.S. (1950). The marine algae of Kangaroo Island. III. List of Species 1. Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 73, 137–197.

YENDO, K. (1905). A revised list of Corallinae. J. Coll. Sci., Imp. Univ. Tokyo 20 (12), 1–46.

ZANARDINI, G. (1844). Sulle Corallinee. Enciclopedia italiana o dizionario della conversazione, Venezia, Tasso 6, 1013–1036.

The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia Part IIIB complete list of references.

Author: H.B.S. Womersley & H.W. Johansen

Publication: Womersley, H.B.S. (28 June, 1996)
The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia
Rhodophyta. Part IIIB. Gracilarialse, Rhodymeniales, Corallinales and Bonnemaisoniales
Reproduced with permission from The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia Part IIIB 1996, by H.B.S. Womersley. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. Copyright Commonwealth of Australia.

Illustration in Womersley Part IIIA, 1996: FIG. 139.

Figure 139   enlarge

Fig. 139. Jania pusilla (AD, A50972). A. Plants on Cystophora harveyi. B. Thalli with branches from discoid holdfasts. C. Longitudinal section of an intergeniculum with two genicula. D. A carposporangial conceptacle. E. Longitudinal section of a carposporophyte with basal fusion cell and peripheral carposporangial filaments. F. A male conceptacle. G. A tetrasporangial conceptacle. [A, B, as in Johansen & Womersley 1994.]

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