Marine benthic macroalgae collected by Vieillard from New Caledonia and described as new species by Kützing

Abstract

A.J.K. Millar and W.F. Prud'homme van Reine. 2005. Marine benthic macroalgae collected by Vieillard from New Caledonia and described as new species by Kützing. Phycologia 44: 536–549.

During the 19th century, the German phycologist Friedrich Kützing described 66 new species of marine benthic macroalgae that had been collected by the French naturalist Eugène Vieillard from New Caledonia and the nearby Ile des Pins in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Many of these species have not since appeared in the literature, nor have they been critically re-examined in light of modern classifications and nomenclatural status. As a direct result of the present research, many have now been found to be conspecific with either previously described species, or are species for which more recent names have been unwittingly applied. This work has resulted in seven new combinations and three new names being proposed: Cladophora mamillata Leliaert nom. nov. (replaced name: Valonia cladophora Kützing); Meristotheca polychotoma (Kützing) Millar comb. nov. (basionym: Euhymenia polychotoma Kützing); Polyopes emarginatus (Kützing) Millar comb. nov. (basionym: Grateloupia emarginata Kützing); Halichrysis irregularis (Kützing) Millar comb. nov. (basionym: Iridaea irregularis Kützing); Halymenia kuetzingii Millar nom. nov. (replaced name: Iridaea fimbriata Kützing); Laurencia kuetzingii Millar nom. nov. (replaced name: Laurencia flagellifera Kützing); Sarcodia marginalis (Kützing) Millar comb. nov. (basionym: Mastocarpus marginalis Kützing); Schottera angustifolia (Kützing) Millar comb. nov. (basionym: Sphaerococcus angustifolius Kützing); Rhodymenia caulescens (Kützing) Millar comb. nov. (basionym: Sphaerococcus caulescens Kützing); Gracilaria chondracantha (Kützing) Millar comb. nov. (basionym: Sphaerococcus chondracanthus Kützing).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Although the idea behind this manuscript was borne several decades ago, the French Government (via the French Embassy in Canberra, Australia) generously funded the 2002 collecting expedition to New Caledonia by A.J.K.M., in collaboration with Professor Claude Payri, Universitéde Polynésie française. A.J.K.M. sincerely thanks Professor Payri for reigniting the idea of completing this project. The authors sincerely thank Per Lassen from the Botanical Museum in Lund, Sweden, for information regarding Agardh's type specimens. Professor Paul Silva (University of California, Berkeley) generously helped with nomenclatural advice, and John Lewis (University of Melbourne), Dr John Huisman (Murdoch University), Dr Frederik Leliaert (University of Gent) and Drs Giovanni Furnari and Mario Cormaci (Università di Catania) offered their expertise on certain families and genera. Dr Michael Wynne made many valuable suggestions for improvement of the original manuscript.