Asparagopsis taxiformis (Delile) Trevisan, 1845: 45

de Clerck, Olivier, Coppejans, Eric, Schils, Tom, Verbruggen, Heroen, Leliaert, Frederik, de Vriese, Thomas & Marie, Daniel, 2004, The marine red algae of Rodrigues (Mauritius, Indian Ocean), Journal of Natural History 38 (23), pp. 3021-3057 : 3029-3030

* Asparagopsis taxiformis (Delile) Trevisan, 1845: 45 References: Magruder and Hunt, 1979: 59, figure 3 p . 58; Cribb, 1983: 28, pl. 4,

figures 1, 2 ; Tseng, 1984: 64, pl. 35, figure 3 ; De Clerck and Coppejans, 1996:

251, figure 88; Cribb, 1996: 69, figure p. 68; Abbott, 1999: 174, figure 43A–D;

Huisman, 2000: 47; Littler and Littler, 2000: 66, figure p. 67; Payri et al., 2000:

160, figure p. 161; Skelton and South, 2002: 141, figures 6G, 7A, B ; Littler and

Littler, 2003: 68, middle figure p. 69.

Type locality. Alexandria, Egypt .

Vouchers. HEC 14603 and HEC 14669, 18 September 2001, western part of Cotton Bay (s.s. 13) ; HEC 14672 (zF), 19 September 2001, Chaland (s.s. 8) ; HEC 14855, 28 September 2001, Couzoupa, south-east of Hermitage .

Ecology. Epilithic or on turf algae at about low tide; extremely abundant (dominant) on the silty reef slope between 12 and 20 m depth at Chaland, on coral and shells.

Indian Ocean distribution. Australia, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Kenya, Kuwait, Laccadives, Madagascar, Maldives, Rodrigues (this paper), Pakistan, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania.

Note. HEC 14669 represents the tetrasporangial stage of Asparagopsis taxiformis , originally described as Falkenbergia hildenbrandii (Bornet) Falkenberg ( Littler and Littler 2000: 68, figure p. 69).

Figures

FIGS 1–7. Rhodophytes. (1) Gracilaria corticata (HEC 14627). (2) Renouxia antillana (HEC 14804). (3) Platoma cyclocolpa (HEC 14805). (4) Titanophora pikeana (HEC 14875). (5, 6) Cryptonemia crenulata (HEC 14876): (5) general morphology; (6) serrate margin. (7) Cryptonemia crenulata (HEC 15134b): cross-section showing cortex and medulla with densely stained ganglionic cells. Scale bars: 1 cm (1, 3, 4); 2 cm (2, 5); 5 mm (6); 50 Mm (7).