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Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 9:45 am on Friday, 12 December 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Monday, 2 March 2026 +08:00.

Dictyosphaeria cavernosa (Forssk.) Børgesen

Reference
Dansk Bot.Ark. 8(2):2, Pl. 1, Fig. 1 (1932)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current
Image

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus usually grass-green to dark green, glossy, hemispherical or irregularly shaped, stiff and brittle, forming small hummocks 1–3 cm diam. when young, when mature often opening and becoming irregularly cup-shaped. Structure hollow centrally, with a peripheral layer of large polygonal cells 1–4 mm wide, firmly attached to each other by rows of hapteroid cells at segment junctions. Cells without trabeculae.

Distribution. Widely distributed in tropical and subtropical seas. In W.A. known from the tropics south to Dongara, with drift specimens collected from Rottnest Island in the south-west.

Habitat. Epilithic in the intertidal and shallow subtidal, often in small clusters.

[After Huisman & Leliaert, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 59 (2015)]

John Huisman and Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Carnarvon, Dampierland, Indian Tropical Islands, Pilbara, Swan Coastal Plain.
IBRA Subregions
Cape Range, Perth, Pindanland, Roebourne.
IMCRA Regions
Abrolhos Islands, Canning, Central West Coast, Kimberley, Ningaloo, North West Shelf, Pilbara (nearshore), Pilbara (offshore).
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Ashburton, Broome, Carnarvon, Cockburn, Cocos Islands, Exmouth, Greater Geraldton, Irwin, Karratha, Port Hedland, Wyndham-East Kimberley.