Bonnemaisonia hamifera Hariot, 1891

Costanzo, Luca Giuseppe, Marletta, Giuliana & Alongi, Giuseppina, 2021, Non-indigenous macroalgal species in coralligenous habitats of the Marine Protected Area Isole Ciclopi (Sicily, Italy), Italian Botanist 11, pp. 31-44 : 31

Bonnemaisonia hamifera Hariot

Description.

In the collected samples, only the tetrasporophytic stage (known as Trailliella intricata ) was observed. The specimens found match with the descriptions of Cormaci et al. (2014), Verlaque et al. (2015) and Cormaci et al. (2020). The tetrasporophytic thalli are pinkish-red or pinkish-brown and consist of uniseriate and irregularly branched filaments. One or rarely two small refractive gland cells are formed at the upper end of each cell. The gamethophytic thalli are dark red and consist of a main axis, which bears opposite branches, lacking in lower portions. Primary axes are arranged on several levels forming a 3/8 spiral. Few branches are modified to form reflexed crozier-shaped hooks, which are present particularly in the middle-upper parts of the thallus and serve for anchoring and vegetative propagation.

Chorology.

Circumboreal.

Presumed introduction vector.

Fouling and/or spontaneously through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Remarks.

Hitherto, in the Mediterranean Sea, B. hamifera gametophytes have only been reported in Spain: in the Strait of Gibraltar and along the coasts of Catalonia ( Cormaci et al. 2020). Previously, in the MPA the tetrasporophytes were only found in 1978 at a depth of 45 m ( Cormaci and Furnari 1979).