Sirodotia huillensis

Ganesan, E. K., West, John A. & Jr, Orlando Necchi, 2018, A catalogue and bibliography of non-marine (freshwater and estuarine) Rhodophyta (red algae) of India, Phytotaxa 364 (1), pp. 1-48 : 19

Sirodotia huillensis (Welwitsch ex West & G.S.West) Skuja

Balakrishnan & Chaugule 1975, p. 437, figs 10,11; Balakrishnan & Chaugule 1980c, p. 244, figs 22–24. Desikachary et al. 1990, Part II A, p.109, Pl. IV A, figs.17 C–E; Balakrishnan & Chaugule 2002, p. 122; Kumano 2002, p. 234; Pingle & Deshmukh 2005, p. 98, fig. 12; Ott 2009, p. 400; Elaya Perumal et al. 2015, p. 47; Pl. 1, figs.1–5; Pl. 2, figs. 1–5; Pls. 3, 4.

Distribution in India: Goa (Anamode forest); Odhisa (stream of R. Udayagiri range, near the villages Khajuripada and R.Udhayagiri, Dec.); Maharashtra (Mahabaleshwar; Kalasubai in Western Ghats; Amphitheatre of Wilson Dam. Jun. to Sep.).

Notes: This is a very widely distributed species reported from Africa, Asia, Mexico and North America (central Mexico). The correct spelling, as shown in recent papers ( Xie & Shi 2004; Xie 2005; Vis et al. 2005; Carmona et al. 2006; Hu & Wei 2006; Ott 2009; Silva 2017; Guiry & Guiry 2017) is S. huillensis , and not “ huiellense ” as cited in the Indian records ( Balakrishnan & Chaugule 1980c, Desikachary et al. 1990, Baluswami & Babu 1999b and Balakrishnan & Chaugule 2002). Balakrishnan & Chaugule (1975) and Necchi & Carmona (2002) stated that the position (basal or supra-basal) of the “elimination cells” (non-functional cells resulting from a somatic meiotic division typical of the Batrachospermales and Thoreales ) might be of potential diagnostic value at the generic, infra-generic, sectional and specific levels. However, observing such a minute feature at the base of the Chantransia filaments of field-collected material, poses a serious limitation in using this criterion ( Carmona et al. 2006). Male plants of this species usually have dense clusters of spermatangia ( Xie & Shi 2004, Pl. 2, fig. 3; Necchi et al. 1993c; 2007, Table 4). Balakrishnan & Chaugule (1980c) reported “spermatangia subglobular, 8–10 μm in diameter, generally geminate (in pairs) terminally on primary or secondary ramuli”. Balakrishnan & Chaugule (1980c) observed numerous monosporangia with dimensions that overlap with the spermatangial size. The two figures (22 and 23) do not explain whether they were monosporangia or spermatangia. In addition, there is no record of monosprangia on gametophytic plants of Sirodotia . It is unclear whether these plants are referable to Sirodotia . Traichaiyanporn et al. (2005) provided a list of 12 comparative physico-chemical parameters for S. huillensis and S. sinica occurring in Thailand. Necchi et al. (1998) and Xie & Shi (2004) provided illustrations of the morphology and reproductive features of specimens from U.S.A. and China, respectively.