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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.

Rhipilia nigrescens Coppejans & Prud'homme

Reference
Blumea 35:261-262 (1990)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus spongy, green when living, with a short indistinct stipe c. 4 mm long, spreading gradually to a peltate or infunduliform blade to 10 mm tall and 20 mm wide, growing in clusters and often anastomosing marginally with adjacent thalli. Stipe polysiphonous, with numerous narrow rhizoidal siphons 10–25 µm diam., in addition to larger primary siphons typical of blades. Rhizoidal siphons also spreading laterally, possibly forming additional thalli. Blades thicker centrally (c. 2 mm) and becoming thinner marginally (c. 1 mm), composed of several layers of siphons, these dichotomously to laterally branched, often with constrictions above branching points. Short lateral siphons mostly without constrictions, straight or often curved, with 4–7-pronged terminal tenaculae; prongs occasionally further divided and forming attachments to adjacent siphons. Primary siphons 45–70 (–80) μm diam.

Distribution. Known from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Kimberley coast and Scott Reef in northern W.A.

Habitat. Epilithic in the subtidal.

[After Huisman & Verbruggen, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 141 (2015)]

John Huisman and Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IMCRA Regions
Kimberley.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Wyndham-East Kimberley.