Chroodactylon ornatum (C. Agardh) Basson 1979
- Dataset
- Additions to the epiphytic macroalgae flora of Bahia and Brazil
- Rank
- SPECIES
Classification
- kingdom
- Plantae
- phylum
- Rhodophyta
- class
- Rhodophyceae
- order
- Goniotrichales
- family
- Goniotrichaceae
- genus
- Chroodactylon
- species
- Chroodactylon ornatum
description
Descriptions in the literature (Børgesen 1915, Howe 1920, Basson 1979, Schneider & Searles 1991, Abbott 1999, Dawes & Mathieson 2008) indicated that the branching patterns and the cell shapes of C. ornatum are variable. The thalli are described as ranging from simple filaments to densely ramified, unilateral, dichotomous, pseudo-dichotomous or irregular; the cells are described as having diverse shapes (oval, elliptical, elongated, globose, square, or sub-square), although they all are essentially the same size. The material analyzed here had pseudo-dichotomous ramifications (Fig. 1 A) and filaments with squared cells, except the apical cells that were cylindrical with rounded apices. No reproductive structures were observed in the specimens analyzed; however, according to Howe (1920), Børgesen (1927), Taylor (1960), Schneider & Searles (1991) and Dawes & Mathieson (2008), C. ornatum reproduces by way of monospores or by subglobose or ellipsoidal akinetes with thick cell walls that arise from vegetative cells in the filaments that are liberated laterally by the rupturing of the mucilaginous sheath.
description
Representative specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Bahia: Ilha de Itaparica, Vera Cruz, Praia da Penha, 25 / XI / 2007, Santos (HUEFS 130889). Geographic distribution along the west coast of Atlantic Ocean: — North Carolina, Florida, Isla Mujeres, Yucatán Peninsula, Aruba, Bonaire, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba, Grenada, Hispaniola, Virgin Islands, Venezuela (Howe 1920, Taylor 1960, Vroman & Stegenga 1988, Ganesan 1989, Schneider & Searles 1991, Suárez 2005, Mendoza-González et al. 2007, Dawes & Mathieson 2008) and Brazil (this study). Comments: — Chroodactylon Hansgirg (1885: 14) is a widely distributed genus in tropical marine and temperate environments, estuaries, as well as fresh-water areas (Brodie & Nielsen 2005). Both the genus and the species C. ornatum are reported here for the first time as occurring in the American South Atlantic. The species had previously been recorded from the coast of Connecticut (USA) to Venezuela, including the Caribbean Islands (Wynne 2011, Guiry & Guiry 2011).