Stereocladon Hooker f. & Harvey, 1845

Holotype species: Stereocladon lyallii Hooker f. & Harvey

Currently accepted name for the type species: Stereocladon rugulosus (Bory) Hariot

Original publication and holotype designation: Hooker, J.D. & Harvey, W.H. (1845). Algae antarcticae, being characters and descriptions of the hitherto unpublished species of algae, discovered in Lord Auckland's Group, Campbell's Island, Kerguelen's Land, Falkland Islands, Cape Horn and other southern circumpolar regions, during the voyage of H.M. discovery ships "Erebus" and "Terror". London Journal of Botany 4: 249-276, 293-298.

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Description: Thallus a multilayered crust on mollusc shells, to several cm in diameter, whose centre issues several erect, branched, terete fronds to 15 cm high. Color of the thallus orange brown. Erect thallus parts have a dome-shaped apex, a firm cortex of small-celled assimilatory filaments, and a medulla of a bundle of longitudinal filaments. Reproductive organs are ovoid to globose unilocular sporangia formed within the cortex of the erect fronds. Plurilocular sporangia not known. Similarity of Stereocladon to Scytothamnus was pointed out by earlier phycologists but separate placement in the Chordariaceae by Hariot was supported by Skottsberg (1921). There are no studies of Stereocladon after Skottsberg (1921). My opinion based on unpublished observations is that Stereocladon should be removed from Chordariaceae and placed in Scytothamnaceae, because its apical anatomy is similar to that in Scytothamnus and its plastid is stellate as in Scytothamnus and Splachnidium (Delépine and others 1976; Asensi and others 1977). Distributed in Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland and South Orkney Islands.

Information contributed by: A. F. Peters. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2021-10-10 by E.A. Molinari Novoa.

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

Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Silberfeld, T., Rousseau, F. & Reviers, B. de (2014). An updated classification of brown algae (Ochrophyta, Phaeophyceae). Cryptogamie Algologie 35(2): 117-156, 1 fig., 1 table.

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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Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in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=42943

Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
E.A. Molinari Novoa in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 10 October 2021. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 01 May 2024