Caulerpa lentillifera J. Agardh, 1837: 173

Coppejans, Eric, Leliaert, Frederik, Verbruggen, Heroen, de Clerck, Olivier, Schils, Tom, de Vriese, Thomas & Marie, Daniel, 2004, The marine green and brown algae of Rodrigues (Mauritius, Indian Ocean), Journal of Natural History 38 (23), pp. 2959-3020 : 2982-2983

* Caulerpa lentillifera J. Agardh, 1837: 173

References: Jaasund, 1976: 25, figure 49; Coppejans and Meinesz, 1988: 184, figures 39–41; Moorjani and Simpson, 1988: 13, pl. 13; Coppejans and Beeckman, 1989: 383, figures 1–3 ; Coppejans and Prud’homme van Reine, 1992: 690, figures 4E, F , 14A, B ; Cribb, 1996: 17, figure p. 16 ; Huisman, 2000: 253, unnumbered figure; Littler and Littler, 2003: 220, middle figure p. 221.

Type locality. Eritrea.

Voucher. HEC 14717, 21 September 2001, Petite Butte (s.s. 24) .

Ecology. On a wooden pole, just under low water mark.

Distribution. Australia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius ( Børgesen, 1953: 9–10), Mozambique, Pakistan, Rodrigues

(this paper), Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania.

* Caulerpa mexicana Sonder ex Kützing f. exposita (Børgesen) Coppejans comb.

nov.

References: Børgesen, 1954: 8, figures 1 , 2 ; Littler and Littler, 2003: 216, top

figure p. 217; both as Caulerpa crassifolia (C. Agardh) J. Agardh f. exposita Børgesen.

Type locality. Riambel, near Souillac, Mauritius.

Voucher. HEC 14814, 24 September 2001, Ile aux Fous (s.s. 6) .

Ecology. Epilithic on an acroporoid coral under a vertical wall of the reef slope, 17 m deep.

Distribution. Mauritius, Rodrigues (this paper).

Note. Our specimen completely agrees with the original description by Børgesen (1954) and the description and illustration by Littler and Littler (2003: 216, figure p. 217), with short, rather stiff, recurved fronds (‘arched toward the substrate’) instead of the rather supple, erect plants of typical C. mexicana . Silva et al. (1996: 826) mention that ‘this taxon ( C. crassifolia f. exposita) apparently lies within the circumscription of C. mexicana but has not yet been transferred or reduced to synonymy’. In the field we readily identified our specimen as C. mexicana because of the typical shape of the pinnules, overlapping in the middle part (and therefore distinct from C. taxifolia ). In our notes we added: ‘compact, rather stiff growth form’, which corresponds with Børgesen’s description of this taxon. For these reasons we transfer C. crassifolia f. exposita to C. mexicana f. exposita. It should be mentioned, though, that our specimen (at 17 m depth) was not exposed to strong surf, unlike those from Mauritius, but

was very strongly attached to the coral, breaking up during collection.

* Caulerpa nummularia Harvey ex J. Agardh, 1873: 38 ( figure 19 ) References: Jaasund, 1976: 19, figure 37; Tseng, 1984: 282, pl. 140, figure 1 ; Cribb, 1996: 17, figure p. 16 ; Littler and Littler, 2000: 364, figure p. 365; Littler and

Littler, 2003: 224, middle figure p. 225.

Syntype localities. Tonga; Nukahiva , Marquesas Islands .

Voucher. HEC 14633, 18 September 2001, western side of Cotton Bay (s.s. 13).

Ecology. Epilithic in the subtidal fringe; on horizontal as well as on vertical substrates.

Distribution. India, Mauritius ( Børgesen, 1946: 40), Rodrigues (this paper), Sri Lanka, Tanzania.

Note. See note on Caulerpa peltata .

Figures

FIG. 1. Sampling stations. See table 1 for a list of the stations and their GPS coordinates. Map redrawn from Wells (1988). The outer grey line represents the fringing reef.

FIGS 2–6. Chlorophyta. (2) Microdictyon tenuius, detail of branching and anastomosing patterns (HEC 14849). (3) Bryopsis pennata var. pennata, branchlets of last order contiguous and in a single plane (HEC 14796 p.p.). (4) Bryopsis pennata var. leprieurii, branchlets of last order interrupted and in a single plane (HEC 14757).(5) Bryopsis pennata var. secunda, branchlets of last order curved in one direction (HEC 14796 p.p.). (6) Chamaedoris delphinii (HEC 14617). Scale bars: 250 mm (2); 5 mm (3–5); 1 cm (6).

FIGS 14–18. Caulerpa. (14) Caulerpa cupressoides var. lycopodium f. elegans, small, elegant specimen (HEC 14691). (15) Caulerpa cupressoides var. lycopodium f. elegans, coarse specimen with richly branched assimilators (HEC 14820). (16) Caulerpa sertularioides f. sertularioides, last order branchlets in a single plane (HEC 14739). (17) Caulerpa sertularioides f. farlowii, last order branchlets in several planes (HEC 14690). (18) Caulerpa webbiana (HEC 14699). Scale bars: 1 cm.

FIGS 19–24. Chlorophyta. (19) Caulerpa nummularia, proliferating from primary, peltate assimilator (HEC 14609 p.p.). (20) Rhipidosiphon javensis (HEC 14763). (21) Udotea sp. (HEC 14759). (22–24) Udotea palmetta (HEC 14817): (22) general morphology of large, fertile specimen; (23) gametangia growing from the blade surface; (24) gametangia growing from the blade margin. Scale bars: 2 mm (19, 20); 1 cm (21, 22); 1 mm (23); 500 mm (24).