David L. Ballantine, Isabella A. Abbott
Ganonema vermiculare sp. nov. (Liagoraceae, Rhodophyta), a new species from Puerto Rico, Caribbean Sea
A new species of Ganonema, G. vermiculare, is described based on specimens collected from 11–17 m depths in southwestern Puerto Rico. When living, algae appear chalky white with a maroon margin. The new species is not distinguished by any autapomorphies, but is distinct from its 13 congeners by a combination of characters, foremost of which are the ovoid cells of the assimilatory filaments and the hollow cylinder of calcification located at the outer medulla. Assimilatory filaments extend to 300 ?m beyond the ring of calcification. Cells of the cortical fascicles cut off abundant rhizoidal filaments, which grow back into the medulla, where they intersperse with and lie parallel to the longitudinally oriented medullary filaments. Carpogonial branches are mostly four cells in length, originate on proximal cells of the cortical fascicles, and become conspicuously surrounded by sterile filaments following fertilization. Carposporophytes are compact, measuring from 150 to 220 ?m in diameter.
Botanica Marina, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 0006-8055
Volume: 49, 04/2006
Pages: 122 - 128
Show full article (external site)
Show all available items of this journal
Search
