The taxonomy, morphology and distribution of species of Scinaia Biv.–Bern. (Nemaliales, Rhodophyta) in north–western Europe

Abstract

Re–examination of herbarium material and new collections of species of Scinaia in north–western Europe shows that the distributions of Scinaia forcellata Biv.–Bern. and S. turgida Chemin have been wrongly assessed in recent literature. S. forcellata ssp. forcellata is found on southern and western coasts of the British Isles north to Co. Clare, Ireland and on Channel coasts east to Boulogne. S. turgida, on the other hand, is found on southern and western coasts of the British Isles north to Shetland and on Channel coasts east to Roscoff. A new subspecies, S. forcellata ssp. scandinavica ssp. nov., is proposed for material previously referred to S. forcellata ssp. forcellata from Denmark, Helgoland, Sweden and possibly Norway. Specimens of a small Scinaia species collected off the Aran Islands, western Ireland are provisionally referred to S. complanata (F. S. Collins) Cotton pending the collection of further material.