Haraldiophyllum infossum sp. nov. (Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta), a Diminutive Turf-forming Red Alga from the South-western Pacific

Abstract

Haraldiophyllum infossum sp. nov. is a small red alga that is partially buried by sponges and ascidians in the turf community often under stands of Ecklonia radiata (C. Agardh) J. Agardh. Blades are monostromatic with conspicuously dentate margins and arise from creeping stolons. Spermatangial and tetrasporangial sori form elongate, interrupted patches along the mid-region of the blades. Features allying the new species with the genus Haraldiophyllum include growth by means of many marginal initials, blades that are monostromatic except at their base and where reproductive structures are borne, absence of microscopic veins, procarps that are scattered over the surface of the fertile frond and which are associated with two groups of sterile cells and one group of cover cells, and carposporangia that are borne singly and terminally on gonimoblast filaments