Ahnfeltia plicata (Hudson) E.M. Fries

Classification:
Empire Eukaryota
Kingdom Plantae
Subkingdom Biliphyta
Phylum Rhodophyta
Subphylum Eurhodophytina
Class Florideophyceae
Subclass Ahnfeltiophycidae
Order Ahnfeltiales
Family Ahnfeltiaceae
Genus Ahnfeltia

Pictures:

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Spiddal Co. Galway, Ireland; small plants about 40 mm long in sandy pools. 07 Mar 2004. Mike Guiry.

Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada. Colin Bates.

Cambre, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, 2008. Ignacio Bárbara.

Lourido, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, 2008, Ignacio Bárbara. Ignacio Bárbara.

Publication details
Ahnfeltia plicata (Hudson) E.M. Fries 1836: 310

Original publication: Fries, E.M. (1836). Corpus florarum provincialium Sueciae. I. Floram scanicam scripsit Elias Fries. pp. i-xxiv, 193-346. Uppsala.

Type species
This is the type species (lectotype) of the genus Ahnfeltia.

Status of name
This is regarded as a current name.

Basionym
Fucus plicatus Hudson

Origin of species name
Adjective (Latin), folded into pleats or furrows, usually longitudinally (Stearn 1973).

Synonym(s)
Gigartina plicata (Hudson) J.V. Lamouroux
Gymnogongrus plicatus (Hudson) Kützing
Fucus plicatus Hudson 1762
Fucus albus Hudson 1762
Fucus plicatus Esper 1798
Fucus plicatus var. simplicior C. Agardh 1810
Sphaerococcus plicatus (Hudson) C. Agardh 1817
Sphaerococcus plicatus var. tenuis C. Agardh 1817
Sphaerococcus plicatus var. simplicior (C. Agardh) C. Agardh 1817
Sphaerococcus plicatus var. elongatus (Turner) C. Agardh 1817
Gigartina plicata var. tenuior Lyngbye 1819
Gigartina plicata var. simplicior Lyngbye 1819
Gigartina confervoides var. plicata (Esper) Lyngbye 1819
Gymnogongrus comosus Kützing 1869
Sterrocolax decipiens F. Schmitz 1893
Porphyrodiscus simulans Batters 1897
Ahnfeltia plicata f. pumila Lakowitz 1907
Ahnfeltia plicata f. tenuior (Lyngbye) Rosenvinge 1931
Ahnfeltia plicata f. tenuis (C.Agardh) Levring 1940

General environment
This is a Marine species.

Common names used in commerce, often for edible algae
fil de fer {Fr}; landladys wig {Eng}; "wig, landladys"

Description
Gametophytes horny, cylindrical, blackish fronds, narrow (1 mm diam.), irregularly subdichotomously branched, to 120 mm high, from a thin crustose base of up to 200 mm diam. Branches with rounded axils and blunt, often bleached tips and growing through shell fragments. Tetrasporophyte (Porphyrodiscus-phase) a thin violet crust , generally found in association with the gametophytes.

Habitat
On rock, mid-intertidal to sublittoral, especially common on sand-covered rocks, widely distributed, common.

Type information
Type locality: England (Dawson 1961: 246). Lectotype: BM (Dixon & Irvine 1977: 213). Notes: An unlocalized, undated Hudson specimen in BM has been chosen as provisional lectotype.

Detailed distribution with sources
(as Gymnogongrus plicatus (Hudson) Kützing)
Ireland: Dublin (Sanders 1860).

Europe: Ireland (Sanders 1860).

(as Fucus plicatus Hudson)
Ireland: Wexford (Tighe 1803).

Europe: Ireland (Tighe 1803).

(as Ahnfeltia plicata (Hudson) E.M. Fries)
Arctic: Canada (Arctic) (Lee 1980).

Ireland: Antrim (Adams 1907, Guiry 1978, Morton 1994), Clare (Guiry 1978, De Valéra et al. 1979, Maggs 1983), Cork (Cullinane 1971, Guiry 1978), Derry (Morton 1994), Donegal (Guiry 1978, Morton 2003), Down (Morton 1974, Guiry 1978, Morton 1994), Dublin (Guiry 1978), Galway (Guiry 1978, Maggs 1983), Kerry (Guiry 1978), Leitrim (Cullinane 1970, Guiry 1978), Mayo (Cotton 1912, Guiry 1978), Sligo (Cullinane 1970, Guiry 1978), Waterford (Guiry 1978), Wexford (Cotton 1913, Parkes & Scannell 1969, Norton 1970, Guiry 1978).

Europe: Baltic Sea (Nielsen et al. 1995), Britain (Newton 1931, Dixon & Irvine 1977, Guiry 1997, Hardy & Guiry 2003), Denmark (Larsen & Sand-Jensen 2006), E. Greenland (Lund 1959, Pedersen 1976), Faroes (Irvine 1982, Nielsen & Gunnarsson 2001), France (Feldmann 1954, Coppejans 1995, Dizerbo & Herpe 2007, Loiseaux-de Goër & Noailles 2008), Helgoland (Bartsch & Kuhlenkamp 2000), Iceland (Caram & Jónsson 1972), Ireland (Adams 1907, Cotton 1912, Cotton 1913, Cullinane 1971, Guiry 1978, De Valéra et al. 1979, Maggs 1983, Morton 1994), Netherlands (Stegenga & Mol 1983), Norway (Rueness 1997), Portugal (Ardré 1970, Araujo et al. 2009, Araújo, Bárbara & Sousa-Pinto in press), Scandinavia (Athanasiadis 1996), Spain (Miranda 1931, Valenzuela & Pérez-Cirera 1982, Pérez-Cirera & Maldonado 1982, Granja, Cremades & Barbara 1992, Bárbara & Cremades 1996, Veiga, Cremades & Bárbara 1998, Peña & Bárbara 2002, Bárbara et al., 2003, Sánchez, Fernández & Rico 2003, Gorostiaga et al., 2004, Bárbara et al. 2005, Diaz-Tapia & Bárbara 2005), Spitsbergen (Vinogradova 1995), Sweden (Kylin 1944, Tolstoy & Österlund 2003).

Atlantic Islands: Ascension (Price, John & Lawson 1986, John et al. 2004), Azores (Neto 1994).

North America: Alaska (Lindstrom 1977, Wynne & Heine 1992), California (Abbott & Hollenberg 1976, Silva 1979), Maine (Mathieson et al. 2001), Mexico (Dawson 1961), New Brunswick (Bates et al. 2005), New Hampshire (Mathieson & Hehre 1986, Mathieson & Dawes 2002).

South America: Chile (Santelices 1989, Ramírez & Santelices 1991), Falkland Islands (Kylin & Skottsberg 1919, Wiencke & Clayton 2002), Peru (Ramírez & Santelices 1991), Tierra del Fuego (Kylin & Skottsberg 1919), Uruguay (Coll & Oliveira 1999).

South-west Asia: India (Silva, Basson & Moe 1996, Sahoo et al. 2001), Iran (Silva, Basson & Moe 1996), Pakistan (Silva, Basson & Moe 1996), Sri Lanka (Silva, Basson & Moe 1996).

Asia: Japan (Mikami 1965), Russia (Perestenko 1994).

Antarctic and the subantarctic islands: Antarctic Peninsula (Hommersand et al. 2009, Hommersand et al. 2009 ), Antarctica (Papenfuss 1964, Wiencke & Clayton 2002), Crozet Island (Wiencke & Clayton 2002), Graham Land (Kylin & Skottsberg 1919), Kerguelen (Kylin & Skottsberg 1919, Wiencke & Clayton 2002), Macquarie Island (Ricker 1987, Wiencke & Clayton 2002), South Georgia (Wiencke & Clayton 2002), Tierra del Fuego (Wiencke & Clayton 2002).

(as Sterrocolax decipiens F. Schmitz)
Ireland: Mayo (Cotton 1912), Wexford (Cotton 1913).

Europe: Ireland (Cotton 1912, Cotton 1913), Spain (Miranda 1931).

Asia: Korea (Lee & Kang 2001).

(as Porphyrodiscus simulans Batters)
Ireland: Cork (Guiry 1978), Galway (Maggs 1983), Mayo (Cotton 1912, Guiry 1978), Waterford (Guiry 1977, Guiry 1978).

Europe: Britain (Newton 1931, Dixon & Irvine 1977), Ireland (Cotton 1912, Guiry 1977, Guiry 1978, Maggs 1983).

North America: New Hampshire (Mathieson & Hehre 1986).

Taxonomic notes
For more information Guiry (1997) recommends consulting Maggs, McLachlan & Saunders (1989).

Key references
Braune, W. (2008). Meeresalgen. Ein Farbbildführer zu den verbreiteten benthischen Grün- Braun- und Rotalgen der Weltmeere. pp. [1]-596, 266 pls. Ruggell: A.R.G. Gantner Verlag.

Farnham, W.F. & Fletcher, R.L. (1976). The occurrence of a Porphyrodiscus simulans Batt. phase in the life history of Ahnfeltia plicata (Huds.) Fries. British Phycological Journal 11: 183-190.

Loiseaux-de Goër, S. & Noailles, M.-C. (2008). Algues de Roscoff. pp. [1]-215, col. figs. Roscoff: Editions de la Station Biologique de Roscoff.

Maggs, C.A. & Pueschel, C.M. (1989). Morphology and development of Ahnfeltia plicata (Rhodophyta): proposal of Ahnfeltiales ord. nov.. Journal of Phycology 25: 333-351, 95 figs.

Maggs, C.A., McLachlan, J.L. & Saunders, G.W. (1989). Infrageneric taxonomy of Ahnfeltia (Ahnfeltiales, Rhodophyta). Journal of Phycology 25: 351-368.

Mikami, H. (1965). A systematic study of the Phyllophoraceae and Gigartinaceae from Japan and its vicinity. Memoirs of the Faculty of Fisheries Hokkaido University 5(2): 181-285.

Smith, G.M. (1944). Marine algae of the Monterey Peninsula. pp. ix, 622, 98 pls. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Zemke-White, W.L. & Ohno, M. (1999). World seaweed utilisation: an end-of-century summary. Journal of Applied Phycology 11: 369-376.

NCBI Nucleotide Sequences
As of 2 June 2009, nucleotide sequence data are available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank for 5 samples identified as Ahnfeltia plicata.

Created: 30 March 1996 by M.D. Guiry

Verified by: 19 January 2010 by M.D. Guiry

Accesses: This record has been accessed by users 2637 times since it was created.

References
(Please note: only references with the binomials in the title are included. The information is from the Literature database.)

Chen, L.C.-M. (1977). The sporophyte of Ahnfeltia plicata (Huds.) Fries (Rhodophyceae, Gigartinales) in culture. Phycologia 16: 163-168.
Farnham, W.F. & Fletcher, R.L. (1973). Sur la présence a Roscoff du Porphyrodiscus simulans Batters, et sa relation avec l'Ahnfeltia plicata (Huds.) Fries.. Travaux Station Biologique de Roscoff, Nouvelle Série 20: 9.
Farnham, W.F. & Fletcher, R.L. (1976). The occurrence of a Porphyrodiscus simulans Batt. phase in the life history of Ahnfeltia plicata (Huds.) Fries. British Phycological Journal 11: 183-190.
Gregory, B.D. (1934). On the life history of Gymnogongrus griffithsiae Mart. and Ahnfeltia plicata Fries.. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany 49: 531-551.
Haglund, K., Axelsson, L. & Pedersén, M. (1987). Photosynthesis and respiration in the alga Ahnfeltia plicata in a flow-through system. Marine Biology, Berlin 96: 409-412.
Maggs, C.A. & Pueschel, C.M. (1989). Morphology and development of Ahnfeltia plicata (Rhodophyta): proposal of Ahnfeltiales ord. nov.. Journal of Phycology 25: 333-351, 95 figs.
Rosenvinge, L.K. (1931). The reproduction of Ahnfeltia plicata. Det kgl. dan. Vidensk. Skr., Naturv. og Mathem. Afd. 10: 1-29.