Electronic Flora of South Australia Family Fact Sheet

SUBFAMILY CORALLINOIDEAE (Areschoug) Foslie 1908: 19

Phylum Rhodophyta – Class Florideophyceae – Order Corallinales – Family Corallinaceae

Thallus with an encrusting non-geniculate holdfast and erect to procumbent, terete to compressed, dichotomous to pinnate or radially branched, branches of alternating genicula and intergenicula; basal stolons present in some taxa. Structure of branches multiaxial, intergenicula with a medulla of cohering filaments in 1 to 25 (–40) tiers of cells, without lateral secondary pit-connections but with lateral cell-fusions; genicula with single tiers of non-calcified cells, cells usually longer than intergenicula cells. Cortex on intergenicula only, with epithallial cells on all calcified surfaces except branch apices and margins of crustose holdfasts.

Reproduction: Propagula present in a few taxa. Reproductive organs borne in uniporate conceptacles. Gametangial thalli monoecious or dioecious, with separate axial or lateral female and male conceptacles, usually urceolate. Carpogonial filaments usually 2-celled, arising on the chamber floor, carposporangia terminating short gonimoblast filaments from all over or from the margins of the basal fusion cell. Spermatangia on short filaments on the floor or sides of the male conceptacle chambers.

Tetrasporangia (or bisporangia) borne on separate thalli in urceolate or embedded conceptacles, roofs formed from peripheral filaments; sporangia zonately divided.

Life history triphasic, with isomorphic gametophytes and tetrasporophytes.

Type genus: Corallina Linnaeus 1759: 646, 805.

Taxonomic notes: The Corallinoideae include twelve genera, five known from southern Australia. The doubtful reference to Bossiella in southern Australia (Johansen 1981, p. 123) is based on Amphiroa tasmanica Sonder (1853, p. 686), from "Van Diemensland (Stuart)", which Setchell & Gardner (1903, p. 360) suggested (as did Yendo 1902, p. 714) was a form of Amphiroa cretacea (now Bossiella). The lectotype (47421) and isolectotype (47422) are in MEL, and were illustrated by Kützing (1858, p. 23, pl. 47, fig. II), who shows an irregularly branched plant with cylindrical intergenicula. The latter (apparently sterile) have single-tiered genicula and intergenicula which show centrally numerous short tiers surrounded by a rather loose and untiered outer medulla, the cells with lateral cell-fusions, and a thick cortex; this is very similar to B. cretacea from Japan (AD, A57512). No other specimens from southern Australia corresponding to these have been seen, and it seems most likely that the types are mis-labelled for locality. They agree well with Bossiella cretacea (Postels & Ruprecht) Johansen (1969, p. 59) from the northern Pacific. Until further collections are made, it seems best to eliminate "Amphiroa tasmanica Sonder" from the southern Australian flora. It has also been recorded from southern South America (see Pujals 1963, p. 19).

References:

FOSLIE, M. (1908). Algologiske notiser. V. K. norske Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. 1908(7), 1–20.

JOHANSEN, H.W. (1969). Morphology and systematics of coralline algae with special reference to Calliarthron. Univ. Calif. Pubins Bot. 49, 1–78, Plates 1–19.

JOHANSEN, H.W. (1981). Coralline Algae, a first synthesis. (CRC Press: Boca Raton, Florida.)

KÜTZING, F.T. (1858). Tabulae Phycologicae. Vol. 8. (Nordhausen.)

PUJALS, C. (1963). Catalogo de Rhodophyta citadas para la Argentina. Rev. Mus. Argentino Cien. Nat. &ldquot;Bernardino Rivadaria&rdquot;, Ciern. Bot. 3(1), 1–139.

SETCHELL, W.A. & GARDNER, N.L. (1903). Algae of Northwestern America. Univ. Calif Pubis Bot. 1, 165–418, Plates 17–27.

SONDER, O.W. (1853). Plantae Muellerianae. Algae. Linnaea 25, 657–709.

YENDO, K. (1902). Corallinae verae of Port Renfrew. Minn. Bot. Stud. 2, 711–722, Plates 51–56.

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

Author: Non-geniculate taxa by W.J. Woelkerling (with contributions by A.S Harvey & D.L. Penrose). Geniculate taxa by 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.

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