Patenocarpus paraphysiferus Yoshiz.

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus to 4 cm high, purple-red when fresh to chalky white when dried, subdichotomously branched; dichotomies 3–5 mm apart. Axes terete, 1–2 mm in diameter; dichotomies 3–5 mm apart. Medullary filaments 10–30 µm in diameter, mixed with rhizoidal filaments 5–10 µm in diameter. Assimilatory filaments 300–360 µm long, terminated by obovoid to subspherical cells 7–10 µm in diameter.

Reproduction. Spermatangia 4–8 µm in diameter, in clusters of 2 or 3 on mother cells located on outer cells. Carposporangia solitary, often terminating a short unbranched filament, ovoid to obovoid, 9–12 × 7–8 µm. Paraphyses associated with gonimoblast 5–7 µm in diameter.

Distribution. Known from the Ningaloo Reef region and the Dampier Archipelago, W. Aust., and from Japan.

Habitat. Epilithic in the subtidal and in intertidal pools.