Electronic Flora of South Australia Genus Fact Sheet

Genus PROTOKUETZINGIA Falkenberg in Schmitz & Falkenberg 1897: 469

Phylum Rhodophyta – Family Rhodomelaceae – Tribe Amansieae

Thallus erect, oppositely branched, branches endogenous, slender, linear, compressed, less than 1.5 mm broad; lower axis with a slight secondary cortex; holdfast discoid or tendril-like. Structure. Apices revolute, apical cell protruding, axial filament with 6 pericentral cells, 2 lateral, 2 dorsal and 2 ventral, cortex 1–2 cells thick, trichoblasts frequent, prominent.

Reproduction: Gametophytes dioecious. Procarps on lower trichoblast cells on short, endogenous, lateral branchlets, soon polysiphonous and pericarpic. Carposporophytes with a basal fusion cell and branched gonimoblast with clavate terminal carposporangia. Cystocarps ovoid, short-stalked; pericarp ostiolate, 3–5 cells thick. Spermatangial organs on trichoblasts, globose to ovoid, with 1 (–3) sterile basal cells.

Tetrasporangial stichidia first inrolled, later lanceolate, marginal or submarginal, single or grouped, compressed, corticated, with two rows of tetrasporangia paired in each segment.

Type species: P. australasica (Montagne) Falkenberg in Schmitz & Falkenberg 1897: 469.

Taxonomic notes: Protokuetzingia is probably a monotypic genus, since the other species (P. schottii, from Columbia and Brazil) has been transferred to Enantiocladia by Wilson & Kraft (2000, p. 338). It is distinguished by the slender, opposite branches and 6 pericentral cells, with stichidia and sexual reproductive organs, typical of the tribe.

References:

SCHMITZ, F. & FALKENBERG, P. (1897). Rhodomelaceae. In Engler, A. & Prantl, K., Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien. T.1. Abt. 2, pp. 421–480. (Englemann: Leipzig.)

WILSON, S.M. & KRAFT, G.T. (2000). Morphological and taxonomic studies of selected genera from the Tribe Amansieae (Rhodomelaceae, Rhodophyta). Aust. Syst. Bot. 13, 325–372.

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

Author: By H.B.S. Womersley, S.M. Wilson & G.T. Kraft

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.

Email Contact: State Herbarium of South Australia