The marine algal (seaweed) flora of the Azores: 4, further additions

• Author(s): León-Cisneros, Karla ; Tittley, Ian ; Terra, Marlene R. ; Nogueira, Eunice M. ; Neto, Ana I.
• Date: 2012
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/1438
• Origin: Repositório da Universidade dos Açores
• Subject(s): Atlantic; Benthic Marine Macroalgae; Biogeography; Morphology; Taxonomy
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

Eight records of seaweeds are reported new to the mid-Atlantic Azores archipelago. Coelothrix irregularis and Lejolisia sp. fall within their overall distributional range. Sebdenia rodrigueziana and Syringoderma floridana have their north-western limit of distribution there. The islands represent the western limit of occurrence for Antithamnionella boergesenii, Aphanocladia stichidiosa, Sebdenia dichotoma, and Codium effusum. The presente and previous papers in this series reveal the extension in range distribution to the west of many of the new records found in the Azores, raising the question as to why the western Atlantic acts as a barrier to dispersal. The new records presented here increase the current total of species recorded on the Azores to 385 (55 Chlorophyta, 74 Heterokontophyta (Phaeophyceae), and 256 Rhodophyta), showing that this isolated island group supports a relatively rich benthic marine algal flora.