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Dictyosphaeria cavernosa (Forssk.) Børgesen

Reference
Dansk Bot.Ark. 8(2):2, Pl. 1, Fig. 1 (1932)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current
Image

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus usually grass-green to dark green, glossy, hemispherical or irregularly shaped, stiff and brittle, forming small hummocks 1–3 cm diam. when young, when mature often opening and becoming irregularly cup-shaped. Structure hollow centrally, with a peripheral layer of large polygonal cells 1–4 mm wide, firmly attached to each other by rows of hapteroid cells at segment junctions. Cells without trabeculae.

Distribution. Widely distributed in tropical and subtropical seas. In W.A. known from the tropics south to Dongara, with drift specimens collected from Rottnest Island in the south-west.

Habitat. Epilithic in the intertidal and shallow subtidal, often in small clusters.

[After Huisman & Leliaert, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 59 (2015)]

John Huisman and Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Carnarvon, Dampierland, Indian Tropical Islands, Pilbara, Swan Coastal Plain.
IBRA Subregions
Cape Range, Perth, Pindanland, Roebourne.
IMCRA Regions
Abrolhos Islands, Canning, Central West Coast, Kimberley, Ningaloo, North West Shelf, Pilbara (nearshore), Pilbara (offshore).
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Ashburton, Broome, Carnarvon, Cockburn, Cocos Islands, Exmouth, Greater Geraldton, Irwin, Karratha, Port Hedland, Wyndham-East Kimberley.