Lobophora variegata (Lamouroux) Womersley ex de Oliveira, 1977: 217

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 : 3001

Lobophora variegata (Lamouroux) Womersley ex de Oliveira, 1977: 217

References: Papenfuss, 1943: 463–468, figures 1–15 (as Pocockiella variegata (Lamouroux) Papenfuss ); Jaasund, 1976: 43, figure 88 (as P. variegata ); Tseng, 1984: 196, pl. 99, figure 2 ; Womersley, 1987: 127, figures 91F, G, 92A; Lewmanomont and Ogawa, 1995: 74; Calumpong and Meñez, 1996: 128, 2 figures; Cribb, 1996: 49, figure p. 48; Littler and Littler, 2000: 268, figure p. 269; Payri et al., 2000: 136, figure p. 137; Skelton and South, 2002: 158, figure 18C, D, G ; Littler and Littler, 2003: 172, bottom figure p. 173.

Type locality. Antilles, Caribbean Sea.

Vouchers. HEC 14671, 18 September 2001, western side of Cotton Bay (s.s. 13) ; HEC 14695 and HEC 14697, 20 September 2001, Rivière Banane (s.s. 12) .

Ecology. Epilithic in intertidal rock pools.

Distribution. Aldabra Islands, Andaman Islands, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Chagos Archipelago, Diego Garcia Atoll, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Laccadives, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius ( Børgesen, 1941: 47–48; 1948: 46), Mozambique, Nicobar Islands, Oman, Pakistan, Réunion ( Jadin, 1935: 161 ~ Zonaria variegata (Lamouroux) C. Agardh ), Rodrigues ( Dickie, 1877a: 6 ~ Zonaria nigrescens Sonder ), Saudi Arabia, Saya de Malha Bank, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania.

Figures

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 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 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.