“…Members of this phylum share a set of characteristics that do not occur together in other eukaryotes. For example, this group lacks flagellated stages and basal bodies, possesses a two-membrane-bound plastid with unstacked thylakoids but lacking chlorophyll b or c, and contains photosynthetic reserves stored as floridean starch (Gantt et al, 1986;Garbary and Gabrielson, 1990;Broadwater and Scott, 1994;Bhattacharya and Medlin, 1995). Traditionally, the members of the Rhodophyta have been divided into two groups (Table 1) -the "florideophytes" and the "bangiophytes," with the latter name used to identify the early diverging red algae from which the former group has evolved.…”