MORPHOLOGY OF PLACENTOPHORA (SOLIERIACEAE,GIGARTINALES: RHODOPHYTA), A NEW GENUS BASED ON SARCODIOTHECA COLENSOI FROM NEW ZEALAND1

The only member of the red algal family Solieriaceae known from New Zealand is the endemic Sarcodiotheca colensoi (Hook. & Harv.) Kylin. This study shows that it differs in several respects from the type S. furcata (Setch. & Gard.) Kylin; thus a new genus Placentophora is created for the New Zealand alga. Although P. colensoi nov. comb. is retained in the Solieriaceae on the basis of vegetative, spermatangial, tetrasporangial, carpogonial-branch and early gonimoblast features, it differs from typical members of that family in its pattern of later carposporophyte development. After a single gonimoblast initial is cut off from the auxiliary cell towards the center of the thallus, further gonimoblasts develop from the initial as ramifying, radiating filaments. These filaments enter an extensive “nutritive-cell” region surrounding the auxiliary cell, form, numerous connections to the “nutritive” cells, and incorporate most of them into a central placenta of interconnected, and variously-fused vegetative and gonimoblast cells. Carpo-sporangia then form in short chains around the periphery of the placenta. The cystocarp lacks both a central fusion cell and a sterile-celled investment, or “Faserhülle.” The distinctive carposporophyte of Placentophora is compared to patterns of gonimoblast development, known in other members of the Solieriaceae.