Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Asterocladales

Family Asterocladaceae

Asterocladon rhodochortonoides (Børgesen) Uwai, Nagasato, Motomura & Kogame 2005: 193

Plants tiny, up to several mm long, epiphytic on various algae; filamentous, uniseriate, comprising creeping and upright filaments. Growth apical and diffuse; Cells 7-13 µm in diameter, 2-3 (-4) times as long as broad; branching sparse. Several chloroplasts per cell, in stellate arrangement, with central pyrenoid. Plurilocular sporangia terminal, elongated ovate to clavate, 65-100 µm long and about 20 µm in diameter at widest. Unilocular sporangia unknown.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Epiphytic on various large algae, especially Sargassum species. Recorded from the Plettenberg Bay area to Durban (31-51).

World distribution: scattered temperate and tropical localities almost worldwide (Guiry & Guiry 2011).

Type locality: St. Croix, Virgin Islands (Silva et al. 1996).

Note: Previously referred to as Asteronema rhodochortonoides (Børgesen) D.G.Müller & E.R.Parodi. Details of chloroplasts of cultured material from Port Elizabeth described by Müller and Parodi (1994). A specimen from Hluleka with a terminal plurilocular sporangium (as Ectocarpus rhodochortonoides), is illustrated in Bolton and Stegenga (1987).

 

Asterocladon rhodochortonoides, Tanzanian specimen re-drawn from Jaasund (1976, Fig. 74).

 

References Asterocladon

Bolton. J. J. & H. Stegenga (1987). The marine algae of Hluleka (Transkei) and the warm temperate/sub-tropical transition on the east coast of southern Africa. Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen 41: 165-183.

Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2011. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched October 2011.

Jaasund, E. (1976). Seaweeds in Tanzania: A field guide. pp. 160. Tromsø: University of Tromsø.

Müller, D.G. & Parodi, E. (1994). Asteronema rhodochortonoides nov. comb. (Ectocarpales, Phaeophyceae) - a newly recognized taxon with stellate chloroplast arrangement. Phycologia 33: 471-474, 11 figs, 1 table.

Silva, P.C., Basson, P.W. & Moe, R.L. (1996). Catalogue of the benthic marine algae of the Indian Ocean. University of California Publications in Botany 79: 1-1259.

Uwai, S., Nagasato, C., Motomura, T. & Kogame, K. (2005). Life history and molecular phylogenetic relationships of Asterocladon interjectum sp. nov. (Phaeophyceae). European Journal of Phycology 40: 179-194.

 

Cite this record as:

Anderson RJ, Stegenga H, Bolton JJ. 2016. Seaweeds of the South African South Coast.
World Wide Web electronic publication, University of Cape Town, http://southafrseaweeds.uct.ac.za; Accessed on 18 November 2024.