Leptophytum

<i>Phymatolithon</i>

Phymatolithon

Genus of algae

Phymatolithon is a genus of non geniculate coralline red algae, known from the UK,[1] and Australia.[2] It is encrusting, flat, and unbranched; it has tetrasporangia and bisporangia borne in multiporate conceptacles.[1] Some of its cells bear small holes in the middle; this distinctive thallus texture is termed a "Leptophytum-type" thallus surface, and has been posited as a taxonomically informative character.[1] It periodically sloughs off its epithallus, reducing its overgrowth by algae by as much as 50% compared to bare rock.[3]

Quick Facts Phymatolithon, Scientific classification ...

References

  1. [1]
    Chamberlain, Y. M. (1990). "The genus Leptophytum (Rhodophyta, Corallinaceae) in the British Isles with descriptions of Leptophytum bornetii, L. elatum sp. nov. and L. laeve". European Journal of Phycology. 25 (2): 179–199. doi:10.1080/00071619000650171.
  2. [2]
    Wilks, K.; Woelkerling, W. (1994). "An account of southern Australian species of Phymatolithon (Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta) with comments on Leptophytum". Australian Systematic Botany. 7 (3): 183. doi:10.1071/SB9940183.
  3. [3]
    Johnson, C.; Mann, K. (1986). "The crustose coralline alga, Phymatolithon Foslie, inhibits the overgrowth of seaweeds without relying on herbivores" (PDF). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 96 (2): 127. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(86)90238-8.[permanent dead link]


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