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Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system and census were set to read-only mode on 1 October 2025. Taxonomic updates published since this time are not being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or Western Australia’s taxonomic names census (Nomos). Conservation listings displayed on Florabase may also be out of date. Please refer to DBCA’s Threatened species and communities webpage for the most recent Threatened and Priority Flora List, noting that recent taxonomic updates are similarly not included. Our database migration is moving to a staging phase. We thank you for your patience as we ensure the integrity of our biodiversity data, develop new workflows, and train staff to use the new systems. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 12:00 pm on Wednesday, 1 October 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Friday, 1 January 2027 +08:00.

Chaetomorpha aerea (Dillwyn) Kütz.

Reference
Sp.Alg. 379 (1849)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus medium to dark green, erect, epilithic (or epiphytic on Posidonia), with numerous closely associated, unbranched filaments, each attached by an elongate basal cell 100–900 µm long with a lobed base and descending rhizoids. Filaments increasing in diameter upwards. Cells 100–150 µm in diameter and L/B 1–2(–3) near the base, usually 200–250 µm in diameter and L/B (0.5–)1–1.5(–3) in upper parts and in long and well developed filaments 500–600(–700) µm in diameter and L/B 0.5–1(–2); filaments slightly to markedly constricted at cross walls; cell length noticeably dependent on time since cell division; wall 2–4 µm thick; chloroplasts densely reticulate with numerous pyrenoids.

Reproduction. Biflagellate and quadriflagellate zooids observed in Australian plants.

Distribution. Cosmopolitan. In Australia, from North Beach, Perth, W. Aust., (and probably further north) around southern Australia and Tas., to Qld.

[After Womersley, Mar. Benthic Fl. Southern Australia I: 172–174 (1984)]

John Huisman & Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Esperance Plains, Swan Coastal Plain, Warren.
IBRA Subregions
Perth, Recherche, Warren.
IMCRA Regions
Central West Coast, Leeuwin-Naturaliste, WA South Coast.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Albany, Bunbury, Cockburn, Cottesloe, Esperance, Fremantle, Manjimup, Mosman Park, Rockingham, South Perth, Wanneroo.