Phymatolithon calcareum (Pallas) W.H. Adey & D.L. McKibbin

Classification:
Empire Eukaryota
Kingdom Plantae
Subkingdom Biliphyta
Phylum Rhodophyta
Subphylum Eurhodophytina
Class Florideophyceae
Subclass Corallinophycidae
Order Corallinales
Family Hapalidiaceae
Subfamily Melobesioideae
Genus Phymatolithon

Pictures:

click on thumbnail for larger version.

Carreroe, Co. Galway, Ireland; live plants from coral beach. 14 Apr 2009. M.D. Guiry.

Trá an Dóiín, an Cheathrú Rua, Connemara; coral strand. 05 May 2008. M.D. Guiry.

Trá an Dóilín, an Cheathrú Rua, Conemara; cast fragments on a coral strand (beach). 29 Apr 2006. M.D. Guiry.

Trá an Dóilín, an Cheathrú Rua, Conemara; cast fragments on a coral strand (beach); a popular diving place in the west of Ireland. 29 Apr 2006. M.D. Guiry.

Trá an Dóilín, an Cheathrú Rua, Conemara; cast fragments on a coral strand (beach). 29 Apr 2006. M.D. Guiry.

1 2 3 Next

29 Found - Displaying 1 through 10

Publication details
Phymatolithon calcareum (Pallas) W.H. Adey & D.L. McKibbin 1970: 100, fig. 1

Original publication: Adey, W.H. & McKibbin, D.L. (1970). Studies on the maerl species Phymatolithon calcareum (Pallas) nov. comb. and Lithothamnium corallioides Crouan in the Ria de Vigo. Botanica Marina 13: 100-106, 16 figs.

Type species
The type species (holotype) of the genus Phymatolithon is Phymatolithon polymorphum (Linnaeus) Foslie.

Status of name
This is regarded as a current name.

Basionym
Millepora calcarea Pallas

Type information
Neotype locality: Falmouth Harbour, Cornwall, England Neotype: W. F. Farnham; 11 Dec 1983; BM Box 1626. Isoneotypes: BM, LTB (Chamberlain & Irvine 1994: 212). Notes: Chamberlain & Irvine (1994) recommend consulting Woelkerling & Irvine (1986a: figs 1,15) for more information on the neotype of this species.

Origin of species name
Adjective (Latin), chalky, limy (Stearn 1973).

Synonym(s)
Millepora calcarea Pallas 1766
Millepora polymorpha Linnaeus 1767
Apora polymorpha Gunnerus 1768
Melobesia calcarea (Pallas) Harvey 1849
Melobesia compressa M'Calla 1849
Spongites calcarea (Pallas) Kützing 1849
Lithothamnion calcareum (Pallas) J.E. Areschoug 1852
Lithothamnion polymorphum (Linnaeus) J.E. Areschoug 1852
Lithophyllum calcareum (Pallas) Foslie 1898
Eleutherospora polymorpha (Linnaeus) Heydrich 1900
Paraspora calcarea (Pallas) Heydrich 1908

General environment
This is a marine species.

Description
Fragile, reddish-violet, branched, calcareous fronds; branches 2-3 mm diam.; very variable in form and difficult to identify with certainty; commonest form resemble stag's horns of irregular diameter.

Habitat
Free-living in clear, clean water from 0-25 m, occasionally to 32 m, forming extensive beds of live and dead material, particularly where there are subtidal currents. It is the main constituent of maërl. Widely distributed, abundant. SW England (Cornwall), SW and W Ireland (notably Bantry Bay and Galway Bay), N to Shetland. In a few areas on the W coast of Ireland, beaches almost entirely composed of dead fragments of maërl are found; perhaps the best-known of these is Trá an Dóilín near An Chéathrú Rua (Carraroe) and several at Ballconeeley in Co. Galway.

Similar species
Lithothamnion corallioides

Detailed distribution with sources
(as Lithothamnion calcareum (Pallas) J.E. Areschoug)
Ireland: Antrim (Johnson & Hensman 1896, Adams 1907), Cork (Lemoine 1913), Donegal (Lemoine 1913), Galway (Lemoine 1913), Kerry (Lemoine 1913), Mayo (Cotton 1912, Lemoine 1913).

Europe: Adriatic (Giaccone 1978, Ercegovic 1980), Balearic Islands (Lemoine 1915, Lemoine 1924, Bellón 1934), Britain (Newton 1931), France (Feldmann 1939, Feldmann 1954), Greece (Gerloff & Geissler 1974, Athanasiadis 1987), Ireland (Anonymous 1898, Adams 1907, Cotton 1912), Italy (Giaccone 1969), Spain (Miranda 1934).

Atlantic Islands: Madeira (Levring 1974).

South America: Chile (Ramírez & Santelices 1991).

Australia and New Zealand: New Zealand (Chapman & Parkinson 1974).

Antarctic and the subantarctic islands: Fuegia (Papenfuss 1964).

(as Lithothamnion polymorphum (Linnaeus) J.E. Areschoug)
Ireland: Galway (Anonymous 1898), Mayo (Cotton 1912, Lemoine 1913).

Europe: Balearic Islands (Rodríguez y Femenías 1889, Navarro & Bellón 1945), Britain (Newton 1931), France (Feldmann 1954), Ireland (Cotton 1912), Portugal (Ardré 1970), Spain (Lázaro Ibiza 1889), Sweden (Kylin 1944).

South America: Brazil (Taylor 1930).

Africa: Ethiopia (Papenfuss 1968), Sudan (Papenfuss 1968).

Antarctic and the subantarctic islands: Fuegia (Papenfuss 1964).

(as Phymatolithon calcareum (Pallas) W.H. Adey & D.L. McKibbin)
Ireland: Antrim (Morton 1994), Clare (De Valéra et al. 1979), Donegal (Morton 2003), Down (Morton 1994), Galway (Guiry 1978).

Atlantic Islands: Ascension (John et al. 2004), Azores (Rosas-Alquicira et al. 2009), Canary Islands (Gil-Rodríguez & Afonso-Carrillo 1980, Lawson et al. 1995, Haroun et al. 2002, Gil-Rodríguez et al. 2003, John et al. 2004), Madeira (Neto, Cravo & Haroun 2001, John et al. 2004).

North America: Alaska (Konar et al 2006).

South America: Colombia (Díaz-Pulido & Díaz-Ruíz 2003).

Africa: Algeria (Babbini & Bressan 1997), Mauritania (John et al. 2004), Morocco (Babbini & Bressan 1997), Tunisia (Ben Maiz, Boudouresque & Quahchi 1987, Babbini & Bressan 1997).

South-west Asia: Levant states (Babbini & Bressan 1997).

Asia: Russia (Perestenko 1994).

South-east Asia: Philippines (Silva, Meñez & Moe 1987).

Taxonomic notes
John et al. (2004) cite Lithophyllum calcareum (J. Pall.) Aresch. as a synonym of this species.

Key references
Blake, C. & Maggs, C.A. (2003). Comparative growth rates and internal banding periodicity of maerl species (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) from northern Europe. Phycologia 42: 606-612.

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.

Bressan, G. & Babbini, L. (2003). Biodiversità marina delle coste Italiane: Corallinales del Mar Mediterraneo: guida all deteminazione. Biologia Marina Mediterranea 10(Suppl. 2): 1-237.

Konar, B., Riosmena-Rodriguez, R. & Iken, K. (2006). Rhodolith bed: a newly discovered habitat in the North Pacific Ocean. Botanica Marina 49: 355-359.

Woelkerling, W.J. (1998). Lamarck's nullipores. In: Non-geniculate Coralline Red Algae and the Paris Muséum: Systematics and Scientific History. (Woelkerling, W.J. & Lamy, D. Eds), pp. 101-404. Paris: Publications Scientifiques du Muséum/A.D.A.C..

Wynne, M.J. (2005). A check-list of benthic marine algae of the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic: second revision. Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia 129: 1-152.

NCBI Nucleotide Sequences
No sequences have been found on the NCBI site.

Created: 30 March 1996 by M.D. Guiry

Verified by: 03 December 2008 by Pier Kuipers

Accesses: This record has been accessed by users 8766 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.)

Adey, W.H. & McKibbin, D.L. (1970). Studies on the maerl species Phymatolithon calcareum (Pallas) nov. comb. and Lithothamnium corallioides Crouan in the Ria de Vigo. Botanica Marina 13: 100-106, 16 figs.
Bohm, L., Schramm, W., Rabsch, U. (1978). Ecological and physiological aspects of some coralline algae from the Western Baltic. Calcium uptake and skeleton formation in Phymatolithon calcareum. Kieler Meeresforschungen 4: 282-288.
Mendoza, M.L. & Cabioch, J. (1998). Étude comparée de la reproduction de Phymatolithon calcareum (Pallas) Adey & McKibbin et Lithothamnion corallioides (P. & H. Crouan) P. & H. Crouan (Corallinales, Rhodophyta), et reconsidérations sur la définition des genres. Canadian Journal of Botany 76: 1433-1445.
Peña, V. & Bárbara, I. (2004). Diferenciación morfológica y anatómica entre Lithothamnion corallioides y Phymatolithon calcareum (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) en dos bancos de maërl de la Ría de Arousa (N.O. Península Ibérica). Anales de Biología 26: 21-27.