Order Corallinales
Family Corralinaceae
Subfamily Corallinoideae
Jania J.V. Lamouroux
Thalli comprising limited crustose bases or stoloniferous bases, and geniculate erect portions that are mainly dichotomously branched (pinnate branching present in some species); cells in genicula longer in centre than at edges, medullary cells of intergenicula 90-130 µm long; conceptacles originating in the medulla; tetrasporangial conceptacles each containing fewer than 15 tetrasporangia (adapted from Kim et al. 2007).
Note: Kim et al. (2007), on molecular and morphological grounds, subsume the genera Cheilosporum and Haliptilon into Jania. Accordingly, we treat all south coast members of the first two genera as belonging to Jania. However, it should be noted that some authors question these combinations (e.g. Williamson et al. 2015; Kogame et al. 2017) and continue to treat these three genera as separate.
Key to south coast Jania
1 a. Branching dichotomous throughout thallus |
2 |
1 b. Branching dichotomous in main axes, pinnate in distal axes |
Jania subulata |
2 a. All segments cylindrical to subcylindrical |
5 |
2 b. Middle and upper segments with bilateral lobes or projections |
3 |
3 a. Middle-upper segments arrowhead-shaped, wings pointed and often reflexed (curved away from axis) |
Jania sagittata |
3 b. Wings broad or poorly-developed and variously-shaped |
4 |
4 a. Wings well-developed, with pointed, blunt or incised edges, segments 0.6-1mm long in the middle |
Jania cultrata |
4 b. Wings on same thallus often variously-shaped, segments 1-3 m long in the middle |
Jania prolifera |
5 a. Plants delicate, small (to 10 mm high), segments 40-100 µm in diameter |
Jania capillacea |
5 b. Plants more robust, a few to 10 cm tall, segments usually over 100 µm diameter |
6 |
6 a. Plants tall, usually 4-8 (-10) cm, segments more than 100 µm diameter, branch angles usually less than 30º |
Jania verrucosa |
6 b. Plants 2-5 cm tall, segments 60-130 (-170) µm diameter, branch angles usually more than 45o, fertile segments much larger than vegetative segments |
Jania adhaerens |
References Jania
Kim, J. H., Guiry M. D., Oak, J. H., Choi, D. S., Hosung Chung, S-H. K., Choi, H-G., 2007. Phylogenetic relationships within the tribe Janieae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) based on molecular and morphological data: A reappraisal of Jania. Journal of Phycology 43: 1310-1319.
Kogame, K., Uwai, S., Anderson, RJ., Choi, H.-G. & J.J. Bolton. 2017. DNA barcoding of South African geniculate coralline red algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta). South African Journal of Botany 108: 337-341.
Williamson, C.J., Walker, R.H., Robba, L., Yesson, C., Russell, S., Irvine L.M. & J. Brodie. 2015. Toward resolution of species diversity and distribution in the calcified red algal genera Corallina and Ellisolandia (Corallinales, Rhodophyta). Phycologia 54: 2-11.
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 05 October 2024.