A survey of macroalgal resources in the Xisha Islands was carried out from March to April 2014. A species of Gelidium sp. was collected and identified as Gelidium pusillum var. pacificum Taylor. The main characters of this species were as follows: 1. thallus purple-red, caespitose; 2. plants up to 1-2 cm high, composed of creeping and erect axes, creeping axes slender cylindrical, and the upper part of erect axes compressed, with irregular or pinnated branches; 3. in transverse sections, cortices consist of 2-3 layers, and rhizoidal filaments were abundant in medulla; 4. tetrasporangium ovoid in transverse view, embedded in the cortical cells, divided cruciately and developed on the apical part of branchlets, forming sori; and 5. the apical cell of the main axis was globose, dome-shaped, protruding out of cortical cells. Gelidium pusillum var. pacificum can be segregated from other variants within Gelidium pusillum by combining characters 1 to 3. Characters 5 can be used to distinguish Gelidium pusillum var. pacificum from small sized Pterocladiella species, such as Pterocladiella caerulescens. Characters 4 cannot be used to discriminate it from its related species, because the size and shape of sori vary similarly. Thus, apical morphology may be a promising vegetative attribute to segregate small sized Gelidium species from some similar Pterocladiella species found in China. Gelidium pusillum var. pacificum was the first record in Sansha region of the South China Sea, which enriched the species diversity of this marine algal flora and further facilitated the analysis of general aspects of this marine algal flora.
WANG Xulei
,
WANG Guangce
,
XIA Bangmei
. A new record of genus Gelidium in the Xisha Islands of China, G. pusillum var. pacificum Taylor (Gelidiales, Rhodophyta)[J]. Journal of Tropical Oceanography, 2016
, 35(2)
: 76
-82
.
DOI: 10.11978/2015061
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