Bangia Lyngbye, 1819

Lectotype species: Bangia atropurpurea (Mertens ex Roth) C.Agardh

Original publication: Lyngbye, H.C. (1819). Tentamen hydrophytologiae danicae continens omnia hydrophyta cryptogama Daniae, Holsatiae, Faeroae, Islandiae, Groenlandiae hucusque cognita, systematice disposita, descripta et iconibus illustrata, adjectis simul speciebus norvegicis. pp. [i]-xxxii, [1]-248, 70 pls. Hafniae [Copenhagen]: typis Schultzianis, in commissis Librariae Gyldendaliae.

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Type designated in: Pfeiffer, L. (1873). Nomenclator botanicus. Nominum ad finem anni 1858 publici juris factorum, classes, ordines, tribus, familias, divisiones, genera, subgenera vel sectiones designantium enumeratio alphabetica. Adjectis auctoribus, temporibus, locis systematicis apud varios, notis literariis atque etymologicis et synonymis Vol. I. Pars prior. pp. [i-vi], [1]-808. Cassellis [Cassel]: Sumptibus Theodori Fischeri [Theodor Fischer].

Description: Filiform, unbranched cylinders of cells embedded in firm gelatinous matrix. Attached by down-growing rhizoids, usually in dense purple-black to rust-colored clumps. Initial uniseriate filament (10-30 µm in dimeter) becoming multiseriate or tubular at maturity (60-6000 µm in diameter). Cell number and filament length highly correlated in uniseriate filaments; filament lengths: 0.2-35 cm. Vegetative cells contain a large, axial, stellate chloroplast with prominent pyrenoid. Apical region differentiates into spermatangia, carpogonia or monosporangia. Male plants produce packets of 32-128 colorless spermatia; females bright red with packets of 8-16 zygotosporangia; asexual plants grey-red to rust-colored. During sexual differentiation sulphated polysaccharide staining in walls decreases. Zygotospores germinate into conchocelis-phase irregularly branched, uniseriate filaments that bore into shells. Conchospores germinate into gametophytic stages. Exact site of meiosis not known.

Information contributed by: R.G. Sheath, modified by M.D. Guiry. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2022-06-24 by M.D. Guiry.

Taxonomic status: This name is of an entity that is currently accepted taxonomically.

Gender: This genus name is currently treated as feminine.

Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Silva, P.C. & Nelson, W.A. (2008). History of the typification of conserved and rejected names, including an account of the typification of Bangia Lyngb. (Bangiaceae, Rhodophyta). Taxon 57: 1351-1354.

Comments: Cosmopolitan marine upper intertidal zone-forming species of subtropical to boreal coastlines. Marine populations in the Atlantic are common food for the periwinkle Littorina littorea. Bangia is opportunistic, having small thalli with rapid growth and high reproductive output (r-selection). Separate asexual populations are long-lived, producing several generations year-round; sexual plants are more like seasonal annuals. B. fuscopurpurea can tolerate drying for 15 days.

Filament diameter and karyotype are best taxonomic characteristics. B. fuscopurpurea has n = 2-4; B. vermicularis n = 3 or 4 (10). Ultrastructurally gametophytic stages have most organelles restricted to small fraction of cytoplasm peripheral to chloroplast. Thylakoids single with no peripheral, encircling one; salinity shock may disrupt. Chloroplast division prior to cytokinesis. Mature spermatia contain reduced chloroplasts (no pyrenoids, no phycobilisomes), nuclei with only condensed chromatin, degenerate mitrochondria, numerous vesicles and ribosomes. Conchocelis phase contains ribbon-shaped chloroplast with peripheral, encircling thylakoid. Thylakoids fragment and dilate into tubular units after prolonged darkness. Pit plugs have 1 cap layer.

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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.

Linking to this page: https://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=33891

Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 24 June 2022. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 28 March 2024

 
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