Sphaeranthera Heydrich, 1900
Holotype species: Sphaeranthera decussata (Foslie) Heydrich
Publication details: Heydrich, 1900: 315
Original publication and holotype designation: Heydrich, F. (1900). Weitere Ausbau des Corallineensystems. Berichte der deutsche botanischen Gesellschaft 18: 310-317.
Request PDFDescription: No generic description is provided as the status of this genus in currently uncertain.
Information kindly contributed by Wm. J. Woelkerling but may now be outdated.
Taxonomic status: The taxonomic or nomenclatural status (or both) of this entity is in some way unresolved and requires further investigation.
Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Kylin, H. (1956). Die Gattungen der Rhodophyceen. pp. i-xv, 1-673, 458 figs. Lund: C.W.K. Gleerups.
Comments: Woelkerling (1988: 219) provided background information on the name Sphaeranthera and concluded that the status and disposition of the genus required further evaluation. This has yet to be done.
Uncertainty surrounds the status and disposition of the genus because a lectotype specimen has yet to be designated for S. decussata (Foslie) Heydrich. Both Foslie (1895) and Heydrich (1900) based the name on the account of Solms-Laubach (1881), who used specimens from several localities in the Golf von Neapel. Those specimens need to be re-examined in a modern context and a lectotype selected in order to determine whether Sphaeranthera constitutes a distinct genus or is a heterotypic synonym of an earlier described genus. It is clear from the account of Solms-Laubach (1881), however, that his specimens had multiporate tetrasporangial conceptacles with roofs composed of cells, and this means that the name Sphaeranthera is associated with the Hapalidiaceae, subfamily Melobesioideae within the Order Corallinales (Rhodophyta).
Nomenclatural note
The ICBN rules cited below are those adopted by the Seventeenth International Botanical Congress, Vienna, Austria, July 2005 (McNeill et al. 2006).
The generic name Sphaeranthera (Heydrich 1900: 315) is accompanied by diagnosis (as part of a generic key) and thus is validly published (ICBN Art 41.2) even though the author did not describe any new species or effect any new species name combinations within the genus. Heydrich (1900: 315, footnote 5) included a single taxon identified as Lithophyllum decussatum Solms (see Solms-Laubach 1881: 14-15), also indicating that a manuscript on that taxon was in press. Subsequently Heydrich (1901a: 192) coined the binomial Sphaeranthera decussata and then (Heydrich 1901b) provided his account of the species.
In accordance with ICBN Art 13.3, the name Sphaeranthera is treated as pertaining to a non-fossil taxon because its type is based on a non-fossil specimen. No species based on fossil types have been assigned to the genus.
The generic name Sphaeranthera is typified (ICBN Art. 10.1) by the type of S. decussata the only species originally included in the genus. The correct authorship of the name of the type species is Sphaeranthera decussata (Foslie) Heydrich; see Woelkerling (1988: 219) and the online version of the Index Nominum Genericourm (http://botany.si.edu.ing). For further notes on the basionym (Lithothamnion decussatum Foslie, 1895: 205), see the Index Nominum Algarum (http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/INA.html) and Woelkerling (1988: 219). - (20 July 2009) - M.D. Guiry
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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.
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Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 20 July 2009. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 06 June 2025
