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Electronic Flora of South Australia Genus Fact Sheet
Phylum Rhodophyta – Family Rhodomelaceae – Tribe Lophothalieae
Thallus with prostrate axes bearing erect branches, usually much branched irregularly radially, with 4 pericentral cells, ecorticate, each segment bearing a rhodoplastic trichoblast; attachment by rhizoids with multicellular haptera. Structure monopodial, developing trichoblasts and pericentral cells close to apices; trichoblasts simple or basally branched 1–3 times, with long unbranched ends, branched more or less in an upwardly curved plane; lateral branches arising on basal cell of trichoblasts. Cells uninucleate.
Reproduction: Gametophytes dioecious. Procarps borne on suprabasal cell of trichoblasts. Carposporophytes with a small basal fusion cell and branched gonimoblast with clavate terminal carposporangia. Cystocarps ovoid with a prominent neck; pericarp 2 cells thick, ecorticate. Spermatangial organs borne on lower or mid cells of trichoblasts, ovoid with a basal sterile cell but no upper sterile cells.
Tetrasporangia in lesser branch systems, with trichoblasts on each segment, spirally arranged with one per segment.
Type species: V. subulata Dawson 1944: 335, pl. 72 fig. 2.
Taxonomic notes: A genus of 5 or 6 species, mainly subtropical in distribution.
Kylin (1956, pp 495, 511) distinguished his Thaumatella from Veleroa Dawson as having bilateral branching, though radial at the apices. This, however, is not true, Thaumatella having irregularly radial lateral branches throughout, though (especially on herbarium sheets) the lateral branches may appear somewhat bilateral. Hence Thaumatella is here synonymised with the earlier Veleroa Dawson, the species of which have been discussed by Saenger (1982) and Millar (2000a). V. adunca differs from the other species in size, branched trichoblasts with rounded apical cells, and rhizoid morphology.
References:
DAWSON, E.Y. (1944). The marine algae of the Gulf of California. Allan Hancock Pacif. Exped. 3(10), 182–453.
KYLIN, H. (1956). Die Gattungen der Rhodophyceen. (Gleerups: Lund.)
MILLAR, A.J.K. (2000a). Veleroa magneana (Brongniartelleae, Ceramiales), a new red algal species from the Coral Sea, South Pacific. Ctyptogamie, Algol., 21, 157–165.
SAENGER, P. (1982). A new species of Veleroa (Rhodophyta: Rhodomelaceae) from Eastern Australia. Proc. R. Soc. Qld 93, 65–69, Plate 4.
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.
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