Sirodotia kennedyi A.L.Szinte, J.C.Taylor & M.L.Vis

(Fig. 6 G-I)

Phycologia 194 (2020).

S. masoalensis E. Fischer, D. Killmann & D. Quandt, Plant and Fungal Systematics 65: 164 (Fischer et al. 2020).

TYPE. — Coll. M. P. Kennedy, 07.VII.2011 (holo-, SANDC [SANDC 19-566]; iso-, BHO [BHO A-0946]).

TYPE LOCALITY. — Zambia, Mutinondo River, Mutinondo Wilderness, 12°16.101’S, 31°22.869’E.

DISTRIBUTION. — Africa: Zambia and Madagascar.

REPRESENTATIVE DNA SEQUENCES. — COI-5P (MT109276), rbc L (MN974518, MT109266).

Description

Plants dioecious; whorls 115-315 µm in diameter; primary fascicles, 3-5 cells; proximal cells cylindrical or ellipsoidal; distal cells obovoidal or ellipsoidal; secondary fascicles present, covering half to the entire internode; spermatangia spherical, on primary or secondary fascicles, 6-8 µm in diameter; carpogonial branches composed of 3-4 disc- or barrel shaped cells, arising from proximal cells of primary fascicles, short, 16-22 µm in length; carpogonia with sessile, elongate pear-shaped, elongate conical or irregularly shaped trichogynes, 25-40 µm in length, 7-11 µm in diameter; gonimoblast filaments with erect branches of one cell; carposporangia obovoidal or ellipsoidal, 9-10 µm in length, 5-7 µm in diameter.

Remarks

This species was recently described by Szinte et al. (2020) and it is most closely comparable to S. huillensis based on the reduced whorls (162-364 µm in diameter), shorter carposporangia (8-10 µm in length, respectively) and the occurrence in Africa. Sirodotia kennedyi differs from S. huillensis in number of primary fascicle cells, 3-5 versus 5-9(-10), respectively. In addition, they are genetically divergent. The recently described species S. masoalensis did not differ from S. kennedyi in morphology and DNA sequence and is here proposed as a synonym.