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Porphyropsis minuta Womersley & Conway

Reference
Trans.Roy.Soc.South Australia 68; fig 7 (1975)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus greenish-brown to purple, with a pulvinate parenchymatous holdfast 50–100(–200) µm across (cells without rhizoidal extensions) from which one to several minute, subspherical to ovoid, bladders (to 2 mm across) arise, later becoming sinuate and rupturing to form irregular monostromatic membranes 2–5(–12) mm high and across, often with convolute margins; epiphytic. Cells of bladders and membrane often in pairs or fours following division, and lying in rows more or less at right angles, sometimes becoming irregular; membrane 8–12 µm thick, cells rounded to slightly elongate, 3–5 µm across, with a parietal rhodoplast filling most of the cell, without a pyrenoid.

Reproduction. By monospores released from whole cells near the margin of the membranes, subspherical to ovoid, 5–7 µm across.

Distribution. Garden I., W. Aust., around southern Australia to Collaroy, N.S.W.

Habitat. Epiphytic on Pterocladia capillacea and other firm-surfaced algae on rough-water coasts.

[After Womersley, Mar. Benthic Fl. Southern Australia IIIA: 31–33 (1994)]

John Huisman & Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IMCRA Regions
Leeuwin-Naturaliste.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Rockingham.