Two melobesioid coralline algae (Rhodophyta, Corallinales), Mesophyllum erubescens (Foslie) Lemoine and Mesophyllum funafutiense (Foslie) Verheij from Sodwana Bay, South Africa

Two species of the coralline red algal genus Mesophyllum (Corallinaceae, Melobesioideae) are reported from the southernmost coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean at Sodwana Bay, Natal, South Africa. Specimens attributed to Mesophyllum erubescens (Foslie) Lemoine were compared with the type specimens of Lithothamnion erubescens Foslie and L. erubescens f. madagascariensis Foslie [= M. madagascariensis (Foslie) Adey]. The comparison showed that the local material and the type specimens are all conspecific, confirming previous suggestions that M. madagascariensis should be subsumed in M. erubescens. Mesophyllum funafutiense (Foslie) Verheij was also recorded. These species are distinguishable on the basis of the structure of the roof and the pore of the tetrasporangial conceptacles, and on the size of tetrasporangial conceptacles and tetrasporangia

Rhipilia penicilloides sp. nov. (Udoteaceae, Chlorophyta) from Fij

Rhipilia penicilloides sp. nov. (Udoteaceae, Chlorophyta) is described from the Fiji Islands, South Pacific. Adult thalli are characterized by a penicilloid capitulum of free, dichotomously branched siphons and an elongated corticated stipe arising from a multisiphonous rhizome-like mat or stolon, whereas juvenile stages possess an infundibular capitulum held together by abundant lateral tenaculiferous branchlets. The generic placement of the new species is debatable owing to its close affinities to both the genera Chlorodesmis and Rhipilia, but present evidence favors the latter

Phacelocarpus neurymenioides sp. nov. (Rhodophyta, Phacelocarpaceae): a new marine alga from Fiji

A new species of the gigartinalean red algal genus Phacelocarpus, of the monogeneric family Phacelocarpaceae, is reported and described for the first time from Fiji, South Pacific. Phacelocarpus neurymenioides differs from other members of the genus in having a fairly broad blade (up to 9 mm wide) with indeterminate branches irregularly placed on the midrib with determinate ramuli forming the alae terminating in serrations less than ten percent of the blade width, and stalked nemathecia borne on the center of the midrib. In its vegetative morphology, P. neurymenioides bears a remarkable ressemblence to the genus Neurymenia, with which it may occur in nature

Sporolithon ptychoides Heydrich and S. episporum (Howe) Dawson: two crustose coralline red algae (Corallinales, Sporolithaceae) in South Africa

The crustose coralline red alga, Sporolithon ptychoides Heydrich, is recorded from tide pools, subtidal surge channels, and on rock substrate on the southernmost coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean, at Sodwana Bay National Park, Natal Province, South Africa. Sporolithon episporum (Howe) Dawson is reported from large tide pools, surge channels, and shallow subtidal rocks subjected to sand scour and inundation in the same area, as well as from the south-western Cape Province. The material of S. episporum is compared with the type specimen, and the latter is described and illustrated. The two species are distinguished on the basis of cell connections and the burying of sporangia. Sporolithon ptychoides has both cell fusions and secondary pit connections, and sporangia buried in distinct rows. Sporolithon episporum has secondary pits but not cell fusions, and generally sheds old sporangia

A revised checklist of the benthic marine algae of the Fiji Islands, South Pacific (including the Island of Rotuma)

A revised checklist of 422 taxa of benthic marine algae is provided for the Fiji Islands, South Pacific, including the island of Rotuma. The list comprises 39 Cyanophyceae, 113 Chlorophyceae, 42 Phaeophyceae and 228 Rhodophyceae. Included are all previously published records and some yet unpublished additions, with the systematic arrangement and nomenclature brought up to date. A preliminary revision of the crustose coralline algae known from Fiji is included. The flora still remains relatively poorly known, and many areas have yet to be phycologically studied, such as much of the Lau Group, and most of Vanua Levu

Heydrichia woelkerlingii gen. et sp.nov., a newly discovered non-geniculate red alga (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) from Cape Province, South Africa

Heydrichia woelkerlingii gen. et sp. nov., a new non-geniculate coralline alga from South Africa, has some affinity with Sporoltihon. Heydrichia and Sporolithon have many vegetative characters in common, but Heydrichia differs in its reproductive characters: cruciately divided tetrasporangia subtended by one or more stalk cells, and housed in sporangial complexes which are themselves within sori; dendroid spermatangial branches restricted to the floor of the gametangial conceptacles; carpogonial branches consisting of a single carpogonium on a support cell; lack of a fusion cell and carposporangia are formed across the floor of the cystocarp. The new taxon shows tetrasporangial and post-fertilization characters not described previously in the Corallinales. In order to accommodate both Heydrichia and Sporolithon within the Corallinales, we propose an emendation of the order to include all genera of red algae with calcite walls and sporangial sori. Heydrichia is an ecologically important member of the algal flora of Cape Province, South Africa, and is endophytized by many organisms including a marine ascomycete

Lithothamnion prolifer Foslie: A common non-geniculate coralline alga (Rhodophyta: Corallinaceae) from the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific

A little-known, but ecologically important non-geniculate coralline, LitIhothamnion prolifer, is recorded from a number of tropical Indo-Pacific sites, including Fiji, Australia, Kiribati and Indonesia. The species occurs primarily on vertical walls of caves and overhangs in Fiji and Australia, but was also found as rhodoliths in Kiribati. LitIhothamnion prolifer is characterized by the combination of characters which follow. The thallus is extremely glossy, smooth, and rosy coloured. Thalli usually produce complanate protuberances, but protuberances become terete when growing on well lit, horizontal substrata, when unattached, or when growing on loose substrata. Conceptacles occur mainly on the tips of protuberances, and tetra/bisporangial conceptacles are large (to 1300 µm external diameter, with chambers up to 1100 µm diameter). The tetra/bisporangial conceptacles are flush or only slightly raised, and often extensive and irregularly shaped (resembling small son). They lack a raised rim, and have flattened pore plates. The rosette cells surrounding the tetra/bisporang ial pore appear somewhat sunken below the surrounding roof cells in SEM, and the cells of filaments lining the pore canals of let tetra/bisporangial conceptacles do not differ from the cells of filaments making up the rest of the roof. Old conceptacles persist and become buried in the thallus, and are then usually completely filled in by irregularly arranged calcified cells