Catenella Greville, 1830: lxiii, 166
Holotype species: Catenella opuntia (Goodenough & Woodward) Greville
Currently accepted name for the type species: Catenella caespitosa (Withering) L.M.Irvine
Original publication and holotype designation:Greville, R.K. (1830). Algae britannicae, or descriptions of the marine and other inarticulated plants of the British islands, belonging to the order Algae; with plates illustrative of the genera. pp. [i*-iii*], [i]-lxxxviii, [1]-218, pl. 1-19. Edinburgh & London: McLachlan & Stewart; Baldwin & Cradock.
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Taxonomic status: currently recognized as a distinct genus.
Description: Plants reach 2-5 cm in height, are terete to slightly flattened, segmented, and branched from the nodes. Axes are often rampant and imbricating, and are attached by lateral haptera. Erect axes are generally short (ca. 2-3 cm in length). Central axial cells each bear 2 periaxial cells, but the central filaments are indistinct among the reticulate cells of the broad medulla. A broad, filamentous inner cortex grades to a shallow, anticlinal outer cortex. Carpogonial branches are usually 2- or 3-celled, the basal cell bearing one or several sterile cells. Two or three connecting filaments arise from fertilized carpogonia, and gonimoblast development is primarily inward. Carposporophytes produce chains of carposporangia, the cystocarps being ostiolate but lacking a filamentous sheath. Spermatangial clusters and tetrasporangia are scattered (Min-Thein and Womersley, 1976).
Comments: Distribution: This is the most widespread member of the family, the type species coming from southern Wales and other representatives being common throughout the world's tropics and subtropics, often as a conspicuous element of the floras on mangrove pneumatophores. Post (1936), Tseng (1942), and Min-Thein and Womersley (1976 have contributed major studies of the genus.
Numbers of names and species: There are 12 species (and infraspecific) names in the database at present, of which 5 have been flagged as currently accepted taxonomically.
Names: ('C' indicates a name that is currently accepted taxonomically; 'S' a homotypic or heterotypic synonym; 'U' indicates a name of uncertain taxonomic status, but which has been subjected to some verification nomenclaturally; 'P' indicates a preliminary AlgaeBase entry that has not been subjected to any kind of verification. For more information on a species click on it to activate a link to the Species database):
Catenella caespitosa (Withering) L.M.Irvine C
Catenella fusiformis (J.Agardh) Skottsberg C
Catenella impudica (Montagne) J.Agardh C
Catenella major Sonder S
Catenella nipae Zanardini C
Catenella oligarthra J.Agardh S
Catenella opuntia var. fusiformis J.Agardh S
Catenella opuntia (Goodenough & Woodward) Greville S - type
Catenella opuntia var. elatior J.Agardh S
Catenella pinnata Harvey C
Catenella repens (Lightfoot) Batters S
Catenella subumbellata C.K.Tseng C
Contributors
Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera,
organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA)
and intended to be published in CD format.
These AlgaeBase descriptions are now being continually updated, and each current contributor is identified above.
The PSA and AlgaeBase warmly acknowledge the generosity of all past and present contributors and particularly the work of Dr Parker.
Descriptions of chrysophyte genera were subsequently published in J. Kristiansen & H.R. Preisig (eds.). 2001. Encyclopedia of Chrysophyte Genera. Bibliotheca Phycologica 110: 1-260.
Linking to this page: http://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=104
Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2013. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 24 May 2013.
Algaebase taxon LSID: urn:lsid:algaebase.org:taxname:8378
