Ctenosiphonia Falkenberg, 1897

Holotype species: Ctenosiphonia hypnoides (Welwitsch) Falkenberg

Currently accepted name for the type species: Vertebrata hypnoides (Welwitsch) Kuntze

Original publication and holotype designation: Schmitz, F. & Falkenberg, P. (1897). Rhodomelaceae. In: Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien nebst ihren Gattungen und wichtigeren Arten insbesondere den Nutzpflanzen unter Mitwirkung zahlreicher hervorragender Fachgelehrten, Teil 1, Abteilung 2. (Engler, A. & Prantl, K. Eds), pp. 421-480. Leipzig: verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann.

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Description: Mostly dorsiventrally oriented prostrate thalli, polysiphonous, with 12-18 pericentral cells, uncorticated. Unicellular rhizoids on ventral pericentral cells; prostrate branch apex slightly bent toward the substratum, without trichoblasts. Upright branchlets numerous, borne in two dorso-lateral rows on prostrate branches; unbranched or with limited branching; dorsiventral orientation evident on upright branchlets by formation of dorso-lateral trichoblasts on most segments, in a line along a row of dorsal pericentral cells, the direction of trichoblasts alternating in subsequent segments; polysiphonous branchlets replacing trichoblasts and, apparently, exogenously derived (Ardré 1970, Pl 30, fig. 4). Only tetrasporophytes described; tetrasporangia, two per segment, in two dorso-lateral rows, causing segment swelling when mature.

Information kindly contributed by R.E. Norris but may now be outdated.

Taxonomic status: This name is currently regarded as a synonym of Vertebrata.

Gender: This genus name is currently treated as feminine.

Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Díaz-Tapia, P., McIvor, L., Freshwater, D.W., Verbruggen, H., Wynne, M.J. & Maggs, C.A. (2017). The genera Melanothamnus Bornet & Falkenberg and Vertebrata S.F. Gray constitute well-defined clades of the red algal tribe Polysiphonieae (Rhodomelaceae, Ceramiales). European Journal of Phycology 52(1): 1-20, 77 figs.

Comments: Warm-temperate eastern Atlantic from Guernsey Is. (Ardré and others 1982) to Morocco and Canary Islands. Slightly differing from Ophidocladus, probably should be combined with that genus.

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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Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in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.

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Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 03 February 2017. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 19 April 2024