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Melanothamnus quadratus (Hollenb.) Huisman

Reference
Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae 547 (2018)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus to 4 mm tall, rusty brown, with a limited prostrate axis and sparse erect axes. Attachment rhizoids unicellular with digitate ends, occasionally saccate, pit-connected to the pericentral cells of prostrate axes. Prostrate axes to 170 µm diam. [segment L:B 0.3–0.5]. Erect branches 100–160 µm diam. [segment L:B 0.2–0.5], becoming shorter near apices. Axes with 4 pericentral cells, ecorticate. Trichoblasts/scar cells arising at irregular intervals, often in displaced pairs on subsequent segments, but then with 6–8 naked segments.

Reproduction. Spermatangia in cylindrical heads forming as 1 branch of a basal dichotomy of trichoblasts, 140–200 µm long, 50–70 µm diam., lacking a sterile apical cell. Other reproductive structures not observed.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality and a single collection from the northern Kimberley, north-western Australia.

Habitat. epiphytic.

[After J.M. Huisman in Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae: 547 (2018)]