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Electronic Flora of South Australia Species Fact Sheet

Lejolisia aegagropila (J. Agardh) J. Agardh 1892: 126, pl. 2 figs 1–8.

Phylum Rhodophyta – Order Ceramiales – Family Ceramiaceae – Tribe Spermothamnieae

Selected citations: De Toni 1903: 1255. Gordon 1972: 139, figs 45,46,61C, 63. Huisman 1997: 199. Kylin 1956: 388. Lucas 1909: 47. Lucas & Perrin 1947: 324. Mazza 1925: No. 808. Millar & Kraft 1993: 41. Silva et al. 1996: 416. Wollaston 1984: 296.

Synonym

Callithamnion aegagropilum J. Agardh 1876: 11. Sonder 1881: 11. Tate 1882: 16.

Thallus (Fig. 98A) medium red to dark red-brown, 2–15 mm high, forming dense and extensive tufts on various hosts. Attachment by haptera; epiphytic on Amphibolis, Codium galeatum, Lenormandia and other algae. Structure. Prostrate and erect filaments irregularly branched, the erect filaments sometimes unilateral and tapering only slightly. Cell size variable on different hosts, prostrate axes 70–110 µm in diameter and L/D 1.5–3, erect axes (25–) 65–80 (105) µm in diameter with cells L/D 2–5, extended hair-like ends 18–20 µm in diameter and L/D up to 15. Cells multinucleate; rhodoplasts discoid to elongate.

Reproduction: Gametophytes dioecious; mixed phase plants occur rarely. Female axes (Fig. 98B) terminal, the last 3 cells short and the fourth (subhypogenous cell) 2–4 times as long as the hypogenous cell; subapical cell bearing 2 sterile periaxial cells and the supporting cell with a terminal sterile cell and lateral carpogonial branch. Fertilized carpogonium producing connecting cells and the auxiliary cell dividing to form gonimoblast filaments of small cells which fuse as radiating arms (Fig. 99D) but cut off terminal ovoid carposporangia 40–50 µm in diameter. The apical cell, sterile periaxial cells and sterile cell on the supporting cell divide to produce four erect, slightly branched, filaments, forming an urceolate and ostiolate pericarp (Fig. 98C) 150–200 µm in diameter, enclosed in a firm gelatinous sheath. Spermatangial heads (Fig. 98E, F) are slightly ovoid, 40–45 µm in diameter, terminal on short lateral branchlets of erect filaments.

Tetrasporangia (Fig. 98G) are terminal on 1–3 short pedicel cells, lateral on erect filaments, 70–80 µm in diameter, tetrahedrally divided.

Type from "Novam Hollandiam austr."; in Herb. Agardh, LD, 35288.

Selected specimens: Flat Rocks, 40 km S of Geraldton, W. Aust., drift on a red alga (Mitchell, 17.ix.1966; AD, A31005). Port Denison, W. Aust., drift on Codium galeatum (Gordon, 8.xi.1968; AD, A33167). Sarge Bay, Cape Leeuwin, W. Aust., drift on Amphibolis (Gordon, 16.xi.1968; AD, A34208). Venus Bay, S. Aust., drift on Amphibolis (Womersley, 12.ii.1954; AD, A19502). Wanna, S. Aust., drift on C. galeatum (Womersley, 19.ii.1959; AD, A22393). West Beach, S. Aust., drift on Amphibolis (Gordon, 4.x.1968; AD, A32170). Victor Harbor, S. Aust., drift on Lenormandia (Womersley, 14.vii.1963; AD, A26530). Port Elliot, S. Aust., drift (Womersley, 23.v.1953; AD, A18689) and on Lenormandia (Womersley, 12.vi.1967; AD, A31428). D'Estrees


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

Distribution: Houtman Abrolhos (Huisman 1997) and Flat Rocks, S of Geraldton, W. Aust., to Twofold Bay, N.S.W. (Millar & Kraft 1993, p. 41).

Taxonomic notes: Bay, Kangaroo I., S. Aust., reef edge on Spyridia dasyoides (Womersley, 17.i.1947; AD, A10829). Kingston, S. Aust., drift on C. galeatum (Woelkerling, 9.ix.1968; AD, A32161). Waratah Bay, Vic., upper sublittoral on Amphibolis (Sinkora A2424, 3.iii.1978; AD, A53612).

L. aegagropila is a considerably larger species than the type species from the Mediterranean, and plants on different hosts may differ considerably in cell size.

References:

AGARDH, J.G. (1876). Species Genera et Ordines Algarum. Vol. 3, Part 1- Epicrisis systematic Floridearum, pp. i-vii, 1–724. (Weigel: Leipzig.)

AGARDH, J.G. (1892). Analecta Algologica. Acta Univ. lund. 28, 1–182, Plates 1–3.

DE TONI, G.B. (1903). Sylloge Algarum omnium hucusque Cognitarum. Vol. 4. Florideae. Sect. 3, pp. 775–1521 + 1523–1525. (Padua.)

GORDON, E.M. (1972). Comparative morphology and taxonomy of the Wrangelieae, Sphondylothamnieae and Spermothamnieae (Ceramiaceae, Rhodophyta). Aust. J. Bot. suppl. 4, 1–180.

HUISMAN, J.M. (1997). Marine Benthic Algae of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia. In Wells, F.E. (Ed.) The Marine Flora and Fauna of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia, pp. 177–237. (W. Aust. Museum: Perth.)

KYLIN, H. (1956). Die Gattungen der Rhodophyceen. (Gleerups: Lund.)

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

LUCAS, A.H.S. (1909). Revised list of the Fucoideae and Florideae of Australia. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 34, 9–60.

MAZZA, A. (1925). Aggiunte al Saggio di Algologia Oceanica. (Florideae). Nuova Notarisia 36, Nos. 805–810.

MILLAR, A.J.K. & KRAFT, G.T. (1993). Catalogue of marine and freshwater Red Algae (Rhodophyta) of New South Wales, including Lord Howe Island, South-western Pacific. Aust. Syst. Bot. 6, 1–90.

SILVA, P.C., BASSON, P.W. & MOE, R.L. (1996). Catalogue of the Benthic Marine Algae of the Indian Ocean. (University of California Press: Berkeley, Los Angeles & London.)

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

TATE, R. (1882). A list of the charas, mosses, liverworts, lichens, fungs, and algals of extratropical South Australia. Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 4, 5–24.

WOLLASTON, E.M. (1984). Species of Ceramiaceae (Rhodophyta) recorded from the International Indian Ocean Expedition, 1962. Phycologia 23, 281–299.

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

Author: H.B.S. Womersley

Publication: Womersley, H.B.S. (24 December, 1998)
The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia
Rhodophyta. Part IIIC. Ceramiales – Ceramiaceae, Dasyaceae
©State Herbarium of South Australia, Government of South Australia


Illustration in Womersley Part IIIA, 1998: FIG. 98.

Figure 98 image

Figure 98   enlarge

Fig. 98. Lejolisia aegagropila (AD, A19502). A. Prostrate and erect axes with cystocarps. B. Mature procarp system. C. Mature cystocarp. D. Fusion cell with carposporangia. E. An erect axis with spermatangial heads (lower) and procarp systems (upper). F. A spermatangial head. G. Erect axes with tetrasporangia. (All as in Gordon 1972, courtesy of Aust. J. Bot.)


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