Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Rhodymeniales

Family Champiaceae

Champia parvula (C. Agardh) Harvey 1853: 76

Plants soft, red to brownish-red, 1-4 cm high, erect or creeping; axes segmented, terete to slightly compressed, main axes 1-1.5 mm diameter, branchlets 0.5 – 1 mm diameter, apices tapering, holdfast discoid. Thallus hollow, filled with mucus, divided by septa at regular intervals; thallus wall of cells of up to 40 µm diameter interspersed with scattered much smaller surface cells; inner wall with longitudinal filaments about 10 µm in diameter bearing occasional spherical to ovoid gland cells; surface cuticle 10-20 µm thick, clear. Tetrasporangia scattered, 60-120 µm diameter, tetrahedrally divided; cystocarps ovoid to urn-shaped, scattered, 0.7-1 mm in diameter, with pericarp and ostiole.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Recorded from the East London area through Kwazulu-Natal (41-58). Epilithic or epiphytic in the lower eulittoral to shallow sublittoral.

World distribution: apparently a cosmopolitan species (Guiry & Guiry 2009).

Type locality: Cadiz, Spain (Guiry & Guiry 2009).

 

Champia parvula on coralline seaweed, Port St Johns.

Champia parvula on coralline seaweed, Port St Johns.

Champia parvula under microcope (stained).

 

References Champia parvula

Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2009. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched August 2009.

Harvey, W. H. 1853. Nereis boreali-americana; or, contributions towards a history of the marine algae of the atlantic and pacific coasts of North America. Part II. Rhodospermeae. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 5(5): [i-ii], [1]-258, pls XIII-XXXVI.

 

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 25 April 2024.