Martensia sp. (genus)

A red algae at Batemans Marine Park

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Identification history

Martensia sp. (genus)	30 Apr 2018	scb
Martensia sp. (genus)	23 Sep 2017	scb
Unidentified	22 Sep 2017	RoyandJenny

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User's notes

I found this striking specimen of marine red macro algae (Genus: Martensia, Division: Rhodophyta, Family: Delesseriaceae) in a narrow inter-tidal channel near Pretty Beach, Murramarang National Park. According to marine algae experts consulted from WA and SA Herbariums, definitive ID of the specific example here will not be possible.

2 comments

libbyh wrote:

23 Sep 2017

Thanks for adding it to the Atlas Roy

RoyandJenny wrote:

27 Dec 2017

Extract from correspondence with John Huisman:

“Millar in 1990 recorded 3 species from Coffs Harbour and your plants would undoubtedly be one of those. But, what to call them? Other than M. australis, the others have type localities in Ceylon and South Africa, which means that it’s unlikely that the NSW specimens actually represent those species. There are seemingly many more species out there than we might have expected. The only way to deal with this is to collect specimens from the type localities, get a DNA sequence to barcode the species, then use those for comparison....(and for now) maybe stick with Martensia sp.”

So please, any assistance now with collecting potential type specimens for the State Herbaria (with permits where appropriate) will be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Roy

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