Gloiocladia J.Agardh, 1842
Holotype species: Gloiocladia furcata (C.Agardh) J.Agardh
Original publication and holotype designation: Agardh, J.G. (1842). Algae maris Mediterranei et Adriatici, observationes in diagnosin specierum et dispositionem generum. pp. [i]-x, 1-164. Parisiis [Paris]: Apud Fortin, Masson et Cie.
Request PDFPrecise date of publication: 9 Apr 1842
Description: Thallus with a discoid holdfast and erect, solid, cylindrical, compressed or flattened fronds, dichotomously, pinnately or radially branched, lubricous. Construction multiaxial, cortical cells small, in dichotomously branched fascicles. Medulla of large, axially elongated cells, cortical cells sometimes proliferating to form a network ramifying between the medullary cells or penetrating them.
Gametangial plants dioecious; spermatangial sori superficial. Spermatangia formed on terminal cortical cells. Carpogonial branches in cortex, 3-celled, borne on a large multinucleate supporting cell with a single, 2-celled auxiliary cell branch. Gonimoblast developing outwards from a small fusion cell, most cells forming carposporangia. Cystocarps ostiolate, marginal, sometimes coronate, protruding outwards, tela arachnoidea present.
Tetrasporangia small, scattered in irregular, unmodified sori. Spores regularly cruciately arranged.
Information contributed by: M.D. Guiry (Description emended by Rodriguez-Prieto et al. (2007: 156).. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2017-01-24 by M.D. Guiry.
Taxonomic status: This name is of an entity that is currently accepted taxonomically.
Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Saunders, G.W., Strachan, I.M. & Kraft, G.T. (1999). The families of the order Rhodymeniales (Rhodophyta): a molecular-systematic investigation with a description of Faucheaceae fam. nov. Phycologia 38: 23-40.
Comments: Nothing is known of the growth in culture or of the life history of Gloiocladia species. Feldmann (1942) reported that plants of G. furcata, the type species from the Mediterranean, were poorly developed in spring, suggesting that the species is annual in its phenology.
Secondary filaments produced by cortical cells are also found in species of Fauchea (q.v.). Gloiocladia and Fauchea are closely related and are very similar in features of structure and reproduction; Fauchea species form tetrasporangia in nemathecoid sori whereas in Gloiocladia they are formed sunken the the cortex in relatively unmodified sori (Irvine and Guiry 1980; Norris 1991).
Norris (1991) could find no basis on which to continue to recognise Gloioderma distinct from Gloiocladia, and Womersley (1996) agreed after a study of Gloiocladia furcata J. Agardh, the type species of Gloiocladia. Feldmann (1942) concluded that the supposedly tetrahedral divisions of the sporangia of Gloiocladia distinguished this genus from Fauchea and Gloiocladia; other authors (Zanardini 1860; Hauck 1883) have also described or figured the tetrasporangia of Gloiocladia furcata as being tetrahedrally divided (Zanardini 1860; Hauck 1883), but Irvine and Guiry (1980) have shown that they are cruciately divided.
Gloiocladia furcata occurs in the subtidal of the Mediterranean at depths of 8-30 m (J. Feldmann 1942) and has been reported north to the Bay of Biscay (Pradeille 1969). G. ramellifera Hauck, G. indica Hauck and G. expansa (Weber-van Bosse) R.E. Norris are found in the Indian Ocean and Malaysia (Weber-van Bosse 1914, 1928) and are poorly known. G. atlantica (Searles) R.E. Norris and G. blomquistii (Searles) R.E. Norris and G. rubispora (Searles) R.E. Norris are known from deep water off North Carolina . G. conjuncta (Setchell et Gardner) R.E. Norris is found off the Pacific coast of Mexico. G. australe (J. G. Agardh) R.E. Norris (including G. speciosa (Harvey in Harvey et J.D. Hooker) R.E. Norris), G. fruticulosa (Harvey) R.E. Norris, G. halymenioides (Harvey) R.E. Norris (including G. wilsonis (J. G. Agardh) R.E. Norris), and G. polycarpa (Harvey) Womersley, and are known from Australasia. G. mauritiana (Børgesen) R.E. Norris and G. robillardii (Børgesen) R.E. Norris are known from Mauritius. G. subdichotoma (Levring) R.E. Norris is known only from the Juan Fernandez Is., off Chile. G. iyoensis (Okamura) R.E. Norris is known from Japan and South Africa.
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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=33913
Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 24 January 2017. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 19 April 2024
