Kallymenia cribrosa Harv.
Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy 555 (1855)
Conservation Code:
Not threatened
Naturalised Status: Native to Western Australia
Name Status:
Current
Scientific Description
John Huisman & Cheryl Parker,
Monday 20 June 2011
Habit and structure. Thallus rose-red, foliose, subsessile or shortly stipitate, usually undivided, with a smooth margin, 10–30 cm across and high, with numerous perforations scattered fairly evenly over most of the thallus except at the base; larger and smaller perforations intermixed, larger 3–5 mm in diameter, smaller usually 1–2 mm in diameter; substance gelatinous but fairly firm when fresh, disintegrating rapidly in the drift. Holdfast discoid, 1–3(–5) mm across; epilithic. Structure. Thallus 200–500(–1000) µm thick, consisting of 3–4 layers of cortical cells and a central medulla of fairly densely to loosely arranged filaments, produced from lightly staining stellate cells, (4–)6–10 µm in diameter; outer cortical cells (3–)4–6(–7) µm across in surface view, rounded or isodiametric to elongate; stellate cells subspherical, (40–)90–160 µm in diameter, with numerous irregular (both in length and thickness) radiating arms.
Reproduction. Sexual thalli dioecious. Carpogonial branch systems monocarpogonial, with 3–5 subsidiary cells; these together with the supporting cell and often the first cell of the carpogonial branch are elongate and much lobed. Fusion cell much lobed, 100–180 µm across, compact, producing numerous connecting filaments. Auxiliary cell systems 30–40 µm across, consisting of an auxiliary cell and 3–4(–5) spherical subsidiary cells; following fusion with a connecting filament, the auxiliary cell produces numerous gonimoblast filaments ultimately cutting off carposporangia. Cystocarps 400–600 µm across in surface view, within the medulla, consisting of a dense mass of intermixed filaments and subspherical to ovoid carposporangia, each (10–)14–20 µm in greatest dimension. Male thalli with spermatangia 1–2 µm in diameter, covering the surface, cut off from the outer cortical cells. Tetrasporangia scattered in the outer cortex, cruciately divided, ovoid, 20–28 µm long by 17–19 µm in diameter.
Distribution. Abrolhos I., W. Aust., to Hinders, Vic., and around Tas.
Habitat. K. cribrosa occurs in depths of 3–40 m on moderate to rough-water coasts.
[After Womersley, Mar. Benthic Fl. Southern Australia IIIA: 232–233 (1994)]
