Electronic Flora of South Australia Species Fact Sheet

Dicroglossum crispatulum (Harvey) Millar & Huisman 1996b: 128, figs 1–34.

Phylum Rhodophyta – Family Delesseriaceae

Selected citations: Silva et al. 1996: 455.

Synonyms

Delesseria crispatula Harvey 1855a: 548; 1863: pl. 268, synop.: xxxi. J. Agardh 1876: 495. Sonder 1880: 24.

Membranoptera crispatula (Harvey) Kuntze 1891: 904.

Hydrolapatha crispatula (Harvey) Kuntze 1898: 410.

Hypoglossum crispatulum (Harvey) J. Agardh 1898: 185. De Toni 1900: 688. Lucas 1909: 36.

Branchioglossum crispatulum (Harvey) Kylin 1924: 8, fig. 2b; 1956: 432. Ducker et al. 1977: 87. May 1965: 401. Millar & Wynne 1992b: 237. Wagner 1954: 283. Wynne 1989a: 517.

Thallus (Fig. 8A) erect, medium red, 2–4 cm high, complanately branched with subdichotomous branches 1–3 (–5) mm broad, margins straight to strongly crispate (Fig. 8C), with a central midrib (no microscopical veins), blades monostromatic. Holdfast small, discoid, stoloniferous; usually epiphytic (on Amphibolis and various algae). Structure. Apical cell (Fig. 8B) transversely ovoid to obpyriform, segmenting to give axial cells and lateral pericentral cells which produce second-order rows, with only some cells producing third-order rows (Fig. 8B); most (but not all) rows reach the blade margin; the transverse pericentral cells remain undivided. Branching at the apex is exogenous (or marginal) with a lateral pericentral cell forming a third-order row which develops as a new apex, thus forming a subdichotomy which is shown by branching of the midrib in lower parts (Fig. 8C, D). Cortication of the midrib occurs by slender rhizoidal filaments, spreading to the adjacent wings on older thalli. Cells probably multinucleate; rhodoplasts discoid.

Reproduction: Reproductive structures (see also Millar & Huisman 1996) are borne both on the blades and on small determinate bladelets arising from the central axial cells (Fig. 9A).

Gametophytes dioecious. Procarps occur on the transverse pericentral cells on both sides of the blades, in series on consecutive segments, each with two 4-celled carpogonial branches and one sterile group. Carposporophyte with a branched basal fusion cell and short terminal chains of subspherical to ovoid carposporangia 12–25 µm in diameter. Cystocarps (Fig. 8E) sunken within the blades, ostiolate; pericarp 3–4 cells thick. Spermatangial sori (Fig. 8F) on both sides of the blades and the midrib, elongate, with the primary cells cutting off initials which each produce several anticlinally elongate spermatangia.

Tetrasporangial sori (Fig. 9A, B) produced mostly on determinate bladelets from the midrib, the sorus covering the central blade but with a sterile margin; tetrasporangia cut off from cortical cells arising from the primary cells, in 2 layers in cross section, covered by smaller outer cortical cells, subspherical, 35–50 µm in diameter.

Type from Fremantle, W. Aust., (Clifton); holotype (Trav. Set 129) in Herb. Harvey, TCD.

Selected specimens: Penguin I., Safety Bay, W. Aust., on Ptilophora prolifera, Amphiroa and Rhodopeltis, 12 m deep (Millar & Huisman, 9.ii.1994; NSW, 293016–293030). Cape Leeuwin, W. Aust. on Amphibolis, drift (Kraft, 12.xii.1971; MELU and AD, A50526). 16 km E of Eucla, S. Aust., drift (Womersley, 3.ii.1954; AD, A19285). Vivonne Bay, Kangaroo I., S. Aust., epiphytic, drift (Womersley, 2.i.1949; AD, A10718).

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

Distribution: Fremantle, W. Aust., to Vivonne Bay, Kangaroo I., S. Australia.

References:

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

AGARDH, J.G. (1898). Species Genera et Ordines Algarum. Vol. 3, Part 3 - De dispositione Delesseriearum. (Gleerup: Lund.)

DE TONI, G.B. (1900). Sylloge Algarum omnium hucusque Cognitarum. Vol. 4. Florideae. Sect. 2. pp. 387–776. (Padua.)

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.

HARVEY, W.H. (1855a). Some account of the marine botany of the colony of Western Australia. Trans. R. Jr. Acad. 22, 525–566.

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

KUNTZE, O. (1891). Revisio generum Plantarum. Part II. 4. Algae, pp. 877–930. (Leipzig.)

KUNTZE, O. (1898). Revisio generum Plantarum. Part III. 2. Algae, pp. 385–437. (Leipzig.)

KYLIN, H. (1924). Studien über die Delesseriaceen. Lunds Univ. Årsskr. N.F. Avd. 2, 20(6), 1–111.

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

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

MAY, V. (1965). A census and key to the species of Rhodophyceae (red algae) recorded from Australia. Contr. N.S. W. Natl Herb. 3, 349–429.

MILLAR, A.J.K. & HUISMAN, J.M. (1996b). Dicroglossum crispatulum gen. et comb. nov. from Western Australia, representing a new tribe within the Delesseriaceae (Rhodophyta). J. Phycol. 32, 127–137.

MILLAR, A.J.K. & WYNNE, M.J. (1992b). Branchioglossum epiphyticum sp. nov. (Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta), with a discussion of the generic boundaries between Branchioglossum and Hypoglossum. Phycologia 31, 231–239.

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

SONDER, O.W. (1880). In Mueller, F., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. Supplementum ad volumen undecinum: Algae Australianae hactenus cognitae, pp. 1–42, 105–107. (Melbourne.)

WAGNER, F.S. (1954). Contributions to the morphology of the Delesseriaceae. Univ. Calif Pubis Bot. 27, 279–346.

WYNNE, M.J. (1989a). A reassessment of the Hypoglossum group (Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta), with a critique of its genera. Helgol. Meeresunters. 42, 511–534.

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

Author: H. B. S. Womersley

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 8, 9A, B.

Figure 8   enlarge

Fig. 8. Dicroglossum crispatulum (A, AD, A19285; B–D, AD, A50526; E, F, AD, A10718). A. Habit. B. Apex of blade showing segmentation. C. Upper blade showing crispate margins and axis subdichotomy. D. Subdichotomy of axial filament. E. Young cystocarp on the midrib. F. Blade with spermatangial sori.

Figure 9   enlarge

Fig. 9. A, B. Dicroglossum crispatulum (AD, A19285). A. Blade with crispate margins, proliferations from midrib, and a tetrasporangial sorus. B. Tetrasporangial sorus. C. Sympodophyllum reinboldii (AD, A19887). Habit.

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