A sexual life history in Rhodophysema (Rhodophyceae): a re-interpretation

Ultrastructural observations of tetrasporangia and conceptacles inHildenbrandia(rhodophyta: Hildenbrandiales)

“…The term stalk cell is inappropriate for such cells. Taken together, these findings would appear to rule out any possibility of a minute tetrasporophyte generation sessile on a larger female gametophyte as was reported for Rhodophysema (DeCew & West, 1982).…”

Considerations of life history, morphology and taxonomy inRhodophysema georgiiBatters (Rhodophyta, Palmariales)

“…If the sexual life history reported for R. elegans (DeCew & West, 1982;Saunders, 1987) is characteristic of the genus Rhodophysema, then the presence of intercalary generative stalk cells must be explained in one of two ways: (1) intercalary carpogonia may be present, or (2) tetrasporangia must arise asexually from differentiating vegetative cells. Intercalary carpogonia have been reported, for example, in Acrochaetium pectinatum (Kylin) Hamel, by West (1968), and Rhodochorton purpureum (Lightfoot) Rosenvinge, by West (1969) who did not observe postfertilization development from these carpogonia.…”

Etheliaceae fam. nov. (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta), with a clarification of the generitype of Ethelia and the addition of six novel species from warm waters

“…Once largely attributed to two orders, the heavily calcified conceptacle‐bearing Corallineae or the typically nemathecial Squamarieae (Agardh ), red algal crusts today are widely distributed among the Florideophyceae, being present in all five subclasses both as phases in the life histories of heteromorphic species (typically the tetrasporophyte) or as obligate isomorphic crusts (e.g., Schneider and Wynne ). Contemporary understanding of noncoralline crusts has been informed by detailed reproductive anatomical studies (e.g., Crouan and Crouan , Weber‐van Bosse , Kylin ), by life history studies (e.g., DeCew and West , Maggs and Guiry , Saunders et al. ) and more recently by molecular studies (e.g., Kato et al.…”

“…Once largely attributed to two orders, the heavily calcified conceptacle-bearing Corallineae or the typically nemathecial Squamarieae (Agardh 1851), red algal crusts today are widely distributed among the Florideophyceae, being present in all five subclasses both as phases in the life histories of heteromorphic species (typically the tetrasporophyte) or as obligate isomorphic crusts (e.g., Schneider and Wynne 2007). Contemporary understanding of noncoralline crusts has been informed by detailed reproductive anatomical studies (e.g., Crouan and Crouan 1844, Weber-van Bosse 1913, Kylin 1944, by life history studies (e.g., DeCew and West 1982, Maggs and Guiry 1989, Saunders et al 1989) and more recently by molecular studies (e.g., Kato et al 2006, 2009, Krayesky et al 2009, Dixon and Saunders 2013. The most comprehensive and possibly most influential publication on these algae remains Denizot's (1968) monograph, "Les Algues Floridees Encroutantes ( a l'exclusion des Corallinac ees)," which sought to comparatively reassess the taxonomy of the known genera.…”