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Electronic Flora of South Australia Species Fact Sheet
Phylum Rhodophyta – Family Rhodomelaceae – Tribe Laurencieae
Synonym
Laurencia brandenii Saito & Womersley 1974: 842, figs 5A, B, 23. Ducker et al. 1977: 87. Shepherd 1983: 83. Shepherd & Womersley 1981: 368. Silva et al. 1996: 504.
Thallus (Fig. 217A) red to red-brown, soft, drying adherent to paper, 4–8 cm high, with one to several axes bearing laterals irregularly radially for 3–4 orders, branches terete to larger ones slightly compressed; axes 3–4 mm in diameter, laterals 1.5–2 mm and ultimate ramuli (0.8–) 1–1.5 mm in diameter. Holdfast discoid, 1–3 mm across; epilithic, on shells, or epiphytic on Amphibolis. Structure. Epidermal cells isodiametric and rounded, 15–25 µm across near apices, increasing to 45 µm across and L/D 1–2 below, without secondary pit-connections and corps en cerise; in section (Figs 217A, 219A), obconical to rounded, 20–35 1 µm across and long, with spaces below epidermal and between cortical cells which lack lenticular thickenings. Cells uninucleate, larger multinucleate; rhodoplasts discoid, ribbon-like in larger cells.
Reproduction: Female plants unknown. Spermatangial receptacles (Fig. 217C) shortly clavate, 1–1.5 mm across, spermatangia (Fig. 217F) borne on trichoblasts.
Tetrasporangial stichidia (Fig. 217D, E) simple, becoming compound, 0.7–1.5 mm broad and 1.5–3 mm long, tetrasporangia (Fig. 217C) cut off abaxially in right-angle arrangement, 80–150 µm in diameter, decussately to tetrahedrally divided.
Type from Elliston Bay, S. Aust., 5 m deep (Branden & Shepherd, 24.x.1973); holotype in AD, A44287.
Distribution: Elliston to Marino, S. Australia.
Taxonomic notes: Chondrophycus brandenii is apparently a rare species. It has been recorded from India (see Silva et al. 1996, pl. 504) but these records need verification.
References:
DUCKER, S.C., FOORD, N.J. & KNOX, R.B. (1977). Biology of Australian Seagrasses: the genus Amphibolis C. Agardh (Cymodoceaceae). Aust. J. Bot. 25, 67–95.
NAM, K.W. (1999). Morphology of Chondrophycus undulata and C. parvipapillata and its implications for the taxonomy of the Laurencia (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) complex. Eur. J. Phycol. 34, 455–468.
SAITO, Y. & WOMERSLEY, H.B.S. (1974). The southern Australian species of Laurencia (Ceramiales: Rhodophyta). Aust. J. Bot. 22, 815–874.
SHEPHERD, S.A. & WOMERSLEY, H.B.S. (1981). The algal and seagrass ecology of Waterloo Bay, South Australia. Aquat. Bot. 11, 305–371.
SHEPHERD, S.A. (1983). Benthic communities of upper Spencer Gulf, South Australia. Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 107, 69–85.
SILVA, P.C., BASSON, P.W. & MOE, R.L. (1996). Catalogue of the Benthic Marine Algae of the Indian Ocean. (Univ. California Press: Berkeley.)
The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia Part IIID complete list of references.
Publication:
Womersley, H.B.S. (24 February, 2003)
The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia
Rhodophyta. Part IIID. Ceramiales – Delesseriaceae, Sarcomeniaceae, Rhodomelaceae
Reproduced with permission from The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia Part IIID 2003, by H.B.S. Womersley. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. Copyright Commonwealth of Australia.
Illustrations in Womersley Part IIIA, 2003: FIGS 217, 219A.
Figure 217 enlarge
Fig. 217. Chondrophycus brandenii (AD, A44287). A. Habit. B. Transverse section of branch. C. Spermatangial branch. D, E. Tetrasporangial branches. F. Spermatangial trichoblasts in branch apex. G. Tetrasporangia in branch apex. (A, C–E as in Saito & Womersley 1974, courtesy of Aust. J. Bot.)
Figure 219 enlarge
Fig. 219. A. Chondrophycus brandenii (AD, A44287). Longitudinal section. B. Chondrophycus cruciatus (AD, A13287). Transverse section. C. Chondrophycus paniculatus (AD, A41614). Transverse section. D. Chondrophycus tumidus (AD, A42777). Longitudinal section. (All as in Saito & Womersley 1974, courtesy of Aust. J. Bot.)
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