Electronic Flora of South Australia Species Fact Sheet

Vaucheria glomerata Blum & Womersley 1955: 713, figs 1–14.

Phylum Chrysophyta – Class Xanthophyceae – Order Vaucheriales – Family Vaucheriaceae

Selected citations: Venkataraman 1961: 51, fig. 28.

Thallus dark green, forming dense tufts 2–10 cm across and 1–2 cm high, associated with sandy-mud in rock pools. Filaments sparingly branched, (20–) 40–65 µm in diameter, with occasional cross-walls in filaments bearing sex organs; chloroplasts discoid, 2–4 µm across, without pyrenoids.

Reproduction: Sporangia unrecorded.

Thalli dioecious, with oogonia and antheridia on separate filaments within the one tuft. Oogonia (Fig. 1691) terminal on short, relatively erect, lateral branches, radially symmetrical, 140–240 µm long and 85–130(470) µm in diameter, usually subtended by an empty cell 30–70 µm m long and 30–40 µm in diameter; oospores terminal, subspherical to slightly ovoid and not filling the lower part of the oogonium, 130–160 µm long and 85–130(470) µm in diameter, wall 6–14 µm thick, smooth; a spherical protoplasmic mass present below the oospore. Antheridia (Fig. 169J) lateral to vegetative filaments with occasional cross-walls, simple or in branched clusters, each with a subtending cell 18–30 µm in diameter and L/D 2–6, fusiform to cylindrical but tapering apically, 115–240 µm long and (18–) 25–50 µm in diameter, with a terminal and 1–3 cylindrical lateral discharge pores 10–25 µm long.

Type from Port Willunga (Aldinga), S. Aust.; in uppermost sublittoral pools (Womersley, 26.ix.1954); holotype in ADU, A19793; isotypes in NY, UC, BM, LD and MEL.

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

Distribution: Only known from the type locality, Nora Creina, S. Aust., and Crawfish Rock, Westernport Bay, Vic.

Taxonomic notes: V. glomerata is distinguished by the oogonia on short lateral branches with an empty basal cell and a subspherical basal protoplasmic mass below the thick walled oospore, and the slender, glomerate antheridia.

References:

BLUM, J.L. & WOMERSLEY, H.B.S. (1955). A new marine Vaucheria from Australia. Am. J. Bot. 42, 713–717.

VENKATARAMAN, G.S. (1961). Vaucheriaceae. Indian Council for Agric. Res., New Delhi. Monogr. Algae.

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

Author: H.B.S. Womersley

Publication: Womersley, H.B.S. (14 December, 1987)
The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia
Part II
©Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, Government of South Australia

Illustration in Womersley Part II, 1997: FIG. 169I,J.

Figure 169   enlarge

Fig. 169. A. Vaucheria velutina (ADU, A57435). An oogonium and three adjacent antheridia. B–E. Vaucheria conifera. (B,C,from Type after Christensen 1987b, figs 17 and 9; D,E. ADU, A57482.). B. Oogonium with oospore. C. Filament with 3 antheridia. D. Filament with two oogonia. E. Filament with three antheridia. F. Vaucheria piloboloides (ADU, A57155). Oogonia (with distal oospores) and antheridia on adjacent filaments. G,H. Vaucheria longicaulis (ADU, A57483). G. Two oogonia. H. Three antheridia from a single filament. I–J. Vaucheria glomerata (ADU, A19793, holotype). I. Two oogonia with thick-walled oospores, protoplasmic masses, and basal cavity, with chloroplasts in part of filament. J. Clustered antheridia borne laterally on a vegetative filament with one cross wall.

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