Catenella Greville, 1830, nom. cons.

Holotype species: Catenella opuntia (Goodenough & Woodward) Greville

Publication details: Greville, 1830: lxiii, 166

Currently accepted name for the type species: Catenella caespitosa (Withering) L.M.Irvine

Original publication and holotype designation: Greville, R.K. (1830). Algae britannicae, or descriptions of the marine and other inarticulated plants of the British islands, belonging to the order Algae; with plates illustrative of the genera. pp. [i]-lxxxviii, [1]-218, pl. 1-19. Edinburgh & London: McLachlan & Stewart; Baldwin & Cradock.

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Description: Frons filiformis subcompressa, reptans, articulato-constricta, moniliformis, intus fibris ramosis dichotomis e centro radiantibus instructa. Fructus ? [The frond is filiform, subcompressed, creeping, articulated-constricted, moniliform, furnished with dichotomously branched fibers radiating from the center. Fruit ?]

Information contributed by: Original description and G.T. Kraft.

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: Schneider, C.W. & Wynne, M.J. (2007). A synoptic review of the classification of red algal genera a half a century after Kylin's "Die Gattungen der Rhodophyceen". Botanica Marina 50: 197-249.

Comments: This is the most widespread member of the family, the type species coming from south Wales and other representatives being common throughout the world's tropics and subtropics, often as a conspicuous element of the floras on mangrove pneumatophores. Post (1936), Tseng (1942), and Min-Thein and Womersley (1976 have contributed major studies of the genus.

Nomenclatural note
Name derived from Latin, catena, a chain, and the diminutive, -ella. - (26 November 2021) - 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Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in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.

Linking to this page: https://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=104

Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 25 April 2025. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 17 May 2025