Scinaia huismanii sp. nov. (Nemaliales, Rhodophyta): an addition to the exploration of the marine algae of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Abstract

Scinaia huismanii sp. nov. is described on the basis of novel reproductive features and a unique combination of vegetative features. Of the 40+ recognized species of Scinaia, it is the only species reported frequently to produce three sterile branches on the hypogynous cell of the carpogonial branch and is only the second species known to produce sterile branches longer than two cells. Spherical cystocarps, although not unique, differentiate S. huismanii from the majority of other nonflattened, occasionally to regularly constricted species that contain closely abutting epidermal utricles. Additionally, S. huismannii contains the smallest epidermal utricles found among described Scinaia species. Scinaia huismanii is known only from the remote northwestern Hawaiian Islands and is morphologically distinct from S. hormoides and S. furcata, the two other species of Scinaia found in Hawaii.