Boodlea composita (Harvey) Brand, 1904: 187–190

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 : 2970-2971

* Boodlea composita (Harvey) Brand, 1904: 187–190 References: Egerod, 1952: 361–362, figure 6a ; Børgesen, 1940: 21–25; Magruder and

Hunt, 1979: 17, figure 1 p . 16 ; Tseng, 1984: 276, pl. 137, figure 1 ; Sartoni, 1992:

306–307; Cribb, 1996: 13, figure p. 12 ; Leliaert et al., 1998: 184, figures 14–20 ;

Huisman, 2000: 238, figures; Kraft, 2000: 569, figure 24A–C ; Littler and Littler,

2000: 326, figure p. 327; Littler and Littler, 2003: 200, top figure p. 201.

Type locality. Mauritius .

Vouchers. HEC 14639 (zF), 18 September 2001, western part of Cotton Bay (s.s. 13) ; HEC 14643 (zF), 19 September 2001, Gravier (s.s. 16) .

Ecology. Abundant in the intertidal, exposed at low tide and locally colouring this zone light green.

Distribution. Bangladesh, Chagos Archipelago (Egmont Atoll), Diego Garcia Atoll, India, Indonesia (Java), Kenya, Laccadives, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius ( Børgesen, 1940: 21–25, figure 6 ; 1946: 15–16, figure 5 ), Mozambique, Nicobar Islands, Pakistan, Réunion ( Jadin, 1935: 155), Rodrigues (this paper), Seychelles (including Mahé Island), Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Yemen.

Note. Taxonomic studies have demonstrated unclear boundaries between Boodlea , Phyllodictyon , Struveopsis and some Cladophoropsis species ( Børgesen, 1913; Egerod, 1952; Kooistra et al., 1993; Leliaert et al., 1998). Recent molecular studies based on partial LSU rRNA gene sequences (Leliaert et al., 2003) reveal that the above genera are very closely related, favouring the recognition of a single genus.

Chamaedoris Montagne * Chamaedoris delphinii (Hariot) Feldmann and Børgesen , in Børgesen, 1940: 16–20,

21 footnote, figure 5

( figure 6 ) References: Børgesen, 1933: 5–9, figures 3–5 ; 1940: 16–20, figure 5 ; Jaasund, 1976:

11, figure 22 ; Sartoni, 1992: 308–311, figure 8 .

Type locality. Fort Dauphin , Madagascar .

Voucher. HEC 14617, 18 September 2001, western part of Cotton Bay (s.s. 13).

Ecology. Frequent on vertical walls of intertidal pools, continuously submerged. Growing in small, isolated clusters.

Distribution. Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius ( Børgesen, 1940: 16–21, figure 5 , pl. 1), Mozambique, Rodrigues (this paper), Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania.

Note. C. delphinii differs from the other Chamaedoris species by the lack of small apical cells on the stipe.

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).

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 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.

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 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).