Caloglossa bengalensis (G. Martens) R. J. King & Puttock, 1994

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 : 23

Caloglossa bengalensis (G. Martens) R. J. King & Puttock

King & Puttock 1994, p. 100; Desikachary et al. 1990, Part II B, p. 255.

Taxonomic synonyms: Hypoglossum bengalense G. Martens 1870b, p. 258 ; Delesseria bengalensis Martens (subgenus Hypoglossum ); Prain 1905: p. 331; Srinivasan 1965, p. 247.

Distribution in India: West Bengal (Mutlah, Ganges delta in tide pools).

Notes: Since its first collection in India in 1870, the second and only recent one is from Bangladesh ( Islam 1974). King & Puttock (1994) mentioned the type locality as Mutlah, Ganges Delta (Lower Bengal), which is an estuary in the Hugli river. Two other places, Pegu and Elephant Point, were also cited as located in India by King & Puttock (1994, p. 100). These are apparently inadvertent errors, since these two places are located in the neighbouring country Myanmar ( Burma). As per the map, Pegu is 40 miles north of Yangoon (formerly Rangoon), while Elephant Point is south of Yangoon in the Andaman Sea. It may be noted that C. bengalensis had also been collected from a river, but in a different latitude at Daintree River, north of Queensland, Australia ( King & Puttock 1994). The Daintree River supports both saltwater and freshwater life forms. Caloglossa bengalensis probably has the capacity to tolerate and live in freshwater conditions migrating from estuarine or marine surroundings. West et al. (2001) showed a P-type (isomorphic alternation of generations like Polysiphonia ) of reproductive patterns for isolates collected from Daintree River and from Singapore. Kamiya et al. (2003, p. 481, fig. 14) also showed a distinctive rhizoidal position (type B) for C. bengalensis , unknown to date in other species of the genus.