Phymatolithon
Phymatolithon is a genus of nongeniculate coralline red alga, known from the UK[3] and Australia[4]. It is encrusting, flat, and unbranched; it has tetrasporangia and bisporangia borne in multiporate conceptacles.[5] Some of its cells bear small holes in the middle; this distinctive thallus texture is termed a "Leptophytum-type" thallus surface, and has been posited as a taxonomically informative character.[6] It periodically sloughs off its epithallus, reducing its overgrowth by algae by as much as 50% compared to bare rock.[7]
References
- ^ Woelkerling, W. J.; Furnari, G.; Cormaci, M. (2002). "Leptophytum (Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta): to be or not to be?—That is the question, but what is the answer?". Australian Systematic Botany 15 (5): 597. doi:10.1071/SB02002. edit
- ^ Original description: Adey, W. H. (1966). "The genera Lithothamnium, Leptophytum (nov. gen.) and Phymatolithon in the Gulf of Maine". Hydrobiologia 28: 321. doi:10.1007/BF00130389. edit
- ^ Chamberlain, Y. M. (1990). "The genus Leptophytum (Rhodophyta, Corallinaceae) in the British Isles with descriptions of Leptophytum bornetii, L. elatum sp. nov. and L. laeve". European Journal of Phycology 25 (2): 179–126. doi:10.1080/00071619000650171. edit
- ^ Wilks, K.; Woelkerling, W. (1994). "An account of southern Australian species of Phymatolithon (Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta) with comments on Leptophytum". Australian Systematic Botany 7 (3): 183. doi:10.1071/SB9940183. edit
- ^ Chamberlain, Y. M. (1990). "The genus Leptophytum (Rhodophyta, Corallinaceae) in the British Isles with descriptions of Leptophytum bornetii, L. elatum sp. nov. and L. laeve". European Journal of Phycology 25 (2): 179–126. doi:10.1080/00071619000650171. edit
- ^ Chamberlain, Y. M. (1990). "The genus Leptophytum (Rhodophyta, Corallinaceae) in the British Isles with descriptions of Leptophytum bornetii, L. elatum sp. nov. and L. laeve". European Journal of Phycology 25 (2): 179–126. doi:10.1080/00071619000650171. edit
- ^ Johnson, C.; Mann, K. (1986). "The crustose coralline alga, Phymatolithon Foslie, inhibits the overgrowth of seaweeds without relying on herbivores". Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 96: 127. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(86)90238-8. edit