Abstract
Results are presented of a study of 15 specimens on six herbarium sheets in the Queensland Herbarium, Indooroopilly, Australia (BRI) labelled as L. pedicularioides Børgesen v. queenslandica Cribb (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta), including the lectotype. All specimens, except the lectotype, belong to species of Chondrophycus or Laurencia either previously recorded or described from Australia, including C. succisus (Cribb) K. W. Nam, L. brongniartii J. Agardh, L. distichophylla J. Agardh, L. heteroclada Harvey and L. majuscula (Harvey) Lucas. Only the lectotype, a sterile specimen collected at Redcliffe (Queensland, Australia), exhibits those vegetative features consistent with L. pedicularioides v. queenslandica. From comparisons with the holotype of L. pedicularioides Børgesen, a tetrasporic specimen collected at Dwarka (India) housed in the herbarium of Copenhagen (C), it is confirmed that Cribb's variety belongs in Børgesen's species. Moreover, due to the epidermal origin of tetrasporangia observed in the holotype, this species is transferred to Osmundea as O. pedicularioides (Børgesen) comb. nov. This first record from both the Indian and the SW–Pacific Oceans of a species of Osmundea, suggests that the genus might reflect a Tethyan (and not a late Tethyan) distribution pattern.
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