Neomeris annulata Dickie, 1874: 198

Coppejans, Eric, Leliaert, Frederik, Verbruggen, Heroen, de Clerck, Olivier, Schils, Tom, de Vriese, Thomas & Marie, Daniel, 2004, The marine green and brown algae of Rodrigues (Mauritius, Indian Ocean), Journal of Natural History 38 (23), pp. 2959-3020 : 2996-2997

* Neomeris annulata Dickie, 1874: 198

References: Valet, 1969: 591–595, pl. 15, figure 5 , pl. 34, figure 5 ; Coppejans and Prud’homme van Reine, 1989b: 127, figures 44–48; Berger and Kaever, 1992: 106–107, figure 3.35a ; Littler and Littler, 2000: 438, figure p. 439; Leliaert et al., 2001: 457, figure 22 ; Skelton and South, 2002: 166, figure 26C ; Littler and Littler, 2003: 262, top figure p. 263.

Type locality. Mauritius .

Vouchers. HEC 14640, 18 September 2001, western side of Cotton Bay (s.s. 13) ; HEC 14693, 20 September 2001, Rivière Banane (s.s. 12) ; HEC 14790 (zF) and HEC 14793, 25 September 2001, Passe Grand Bassin (s.s. 4) ; HEC 14853, 25 September 2001, Grand Paté (s.s. 7) ; HEC 14854, 29 September 2001, Baie de l’Hermitage (s.s. 22) .

Ecology. Epilithic on coral fragments in middle and low intertidal as well as in the subtidal down to 15 m depth.

Distribution. Aldabra Islands, Chagos Archipelago, Comores, India, Indonesia, Kenya ( Coppejans et al., 2000: 77), Laccadives, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius ( Børgesen, 1940: 43; 1949: 5–6), Réunion ( Payri, 1985: 640), Rodrigues (this paper), Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania.

* Neomeris bilimbata Koster, 1937: 221–223 , pl. XV, figures 1 , 4, 5 References: Valet, 1969: 599, pl. 3, figures 1 , 2 , pl. 35, figure 6 , pl. 42, figures 13 , 15, 16 ; Coppejans and Prud’homme van Reine, 1989b: 127, figures 49–62.

Type locality. Itu Aba , Tizard Bank , South China Sea .

Voucher. HEC 14665 (zF), 19 September 2001, Gravier (s.s. 16) .

Ecology. On a coral fragment in a crevice of the fringing reef, low intertidal.

Distribution. Rodrigues (this paper), Seychelles, Singapore.

Note. The gametangia of these specimens are ellipsoid, 160 6 120 mm, the apices of the primary branchlets are rounded or laterally flattened. The cellulose plug between the top of the primary branch and the pedicel of the gametangium is disc-like. There are no calcified lamellae, as in N. dumetosa , nor trifurcate apices of the primary branches, as in N. vanbosseae , two species frequently mentioned from the western Indian Ocean. This collection fully agrees with our description and illustrations ( Coppejans and Prud’homme van Reine, 1989b) of material from Indonesia.

General remarks on the distribution of Neomeris in the Mascarene Islands

Neomeris annulata is present on both Mauritius and Rodrigues. N. bilimbata has not been recorded from Mauritius and N. van-bosseae Howe , mentioned from the former island by Børgesen (1946: 31–32), was not collected on the latter.

Figures

FIGS 2–6. Chlorophyta. (2) Microdictyon tenuius, detail of branching and anastomosing patterns (HEC 14849). (3) Bryopsis pennata var. pennata, branchlets of last order contiguous and in a single plane (HEC 14796 p.p.). (4) Bryopsis pennata var. leprieurii, branchlets of last order interrupted and in a single plane (HEC 14757).(5) Bryopsis pennata var. secunda, branchlets of last order curved in one direction (HEC 14796 p.p.). (6) Chamaedoris delphinii (HEC 14617). Scale bars: 250 mm (2); 5 mm (3–5); 1 cm (6).

FIGS 19–24. Chlorophyta. (19) Caulerpa nummularia, proliferating from primary, peltate assimilator (HEC 14609 p.p.). (20) Rhipidosiphon javensis (HEC 14763). (21) Udotea sp. (HEC 14759). (22–24) Udotea palmetta (HEC 14817): (22) general morphology of large, fertile specimen; (23) gametangia growing from the blade surface; (24) gametangia growing from the blade margin. Scale bars: 2 mm (19, 20); 1 cm (21, 22); 1 mm (23); 500 mm (24).

FIGS 25–30. Phaeophyta. (25, 26) Cladosiphon mauritianus (HEC 14789b): (25) general morphology; (26) apical branches. (27, 28) Chnoospora implexa (HEC 14674b): (27) compact form; (28) thin, slender form. (29) Hydroclathrus tenuis (HEC 14756d). (30) Asteronema breviarticulatum, rope-like appearance of intertwined filaments (HEC 14884). Scale bars: 2 cm (25); 1 cm (26–30).

FIG. 1. Sampling stations. See table 1 for a list of the stations and their GPS coordinates. Map redrawn from Wells (1988). The outer grey line represents the fringing reef.

FIGS 7–13. Caulerpa brachypus, variation in the general morphology and margin structure of the assimilators. (7) Large growth form collected in grooves between bumps of coral rubble, frequently branching and with secondary stolons (HEC 14867). (8) Intermediately large growth form with wide assimilators (HEC 14769). (9) Intermediately large growth form with relatively narrow assimilators (HEC 14656a). (10) Typical specimen with simple or scarcely branched assimilators (HEC 14612). (11) Assimilator with smooth margin (HEC 14612). (12) Assimilator with coarsely dentate margin (HEC 14656a). (13) Assimilator with densely dentate margin (HEC 14718). Scale bars: 2 cm (7–10); 1 mm (11–13).

FIGS 14–18. Caulerpa. (14) Caulerpa cupressoides var. lycopodium f. elegans, small, elegant specimen (HEC 14691). (15) Caulerpa cupressoides var. lycopodium f. elegans, coarse specimen with richly branched assimilators (HEC 14820). (16) Caulerpa sertularioides f. sertularioides, last order branchlets in a single plane (HEC 14739). (17) Caulerpa sertularioides f. farlowii, last order branchlets in several planes (HEC 14690). (18) Caulerpa webbiana (HEC 14699). Scale bars: 1 cm.