Fauchea Montagne & Bory, 1846

Holotype species: Fauchea repens (C.Agardh) Montagne & Bory

Currently accepted name for the type species: Gloiocladia repens (C.Agardh) N.Sánchez & Rodríguez-Prieto

Original publication and holotype designation: Montagne, [J.F.]C. (1846). Flore d'Algérie. Ordo I. Phyceae Fries. In: Exploration scientifique de l'Algérie pendant les années 1840, 1841, 1842...Sciences physiques. Botanique. Cryptogamie. (Durieu De Maisonneuve, M.C. Eds) Vol. 1, pp. 1-197. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, publiée par ordre du Gouvernement et avec le concours d'une Commission Académique.

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Description: Thallus with a discoid holdfast and erect, solid, flattened, flabellate, dichotomous or irregularly branched, lubricous fronds. Construction multiaxial, cortical cells small, in branched, anticlinal rows, medulla of large, axially elongated cells. Cortical cells sometimes proliferating to form a network ramifying between the medullary cells or penetrating them. Gametangial plants dioecious; spermatangial sori superficial, spermatangia formed on terminal cortical cells.Procarpic, carpogonial branches in cortex, 3-celled, borne on a large multinucleate supporting cell with a single, 2-celled auxiliary cell branch which sometimes bears a 2-celled sterile branch; gonimoblast developing outwards from a small fusion cell, most cells forming carposporangia. Cystocarps ostiolate, marginal or scattered, sometimes coronate, protruding outwards, tela arachnoidea present. Tetrasporangia small, in scattered, nemathecial sori. Spores regularly cruciately arranged.

Information kindly contributed by M.D. Guiry but may now be outdated.

Taxonomic status: This name is currently regarded as a synonym of Gloiocladia.

Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Saunders, G.W., Strachan, I.M. & Kraft, G.T. (1999). The families of the order Rhodymeniales (Rhodophyta): a molecular-systematic investigation with a description of Faucheaceae fam. nov. Phycologia 38: 23-40.

Comments: Sparling (1961) carried out a preliminary study of the life history of Fauchea laciniata from the Pacific coast of North America in culture, finding that carpospores from field-collected plants formed viable tetrasporophytes. However, West and Norris (1966) found that similar tetraspores gave rise to further tetrasporophytes in culture. Nevertheless, the life history, to judge from the frequent occurrence of isomorphic tetrasporangial and cystocarpic plants in the wild (Hawkes and Scagel 1986), is likely generally to be of the ‘Polysiphonia-type.’ Species of Fauchea are usually subtidal, although F. laciniata occasionally occurs in the low intertidal (Hawkes and Scagel 1986). Dawson and Neushul (1966) noted that exposed-coast forms of F. laciniata, previously known as F. pygmaea (Setchell 1912), maintain their growth form in culture, suggesting that the thallus morphology may be genetically rather than environmentally based. Abbott and Hollenberg (1976) include these forms in F. laciniata. The two species of American Pacific coast Fauchea species (F. fryeana and F. laciniata) need further studies to establish if they are congeneric. Fauchea and Gloiocladia are closely related and very similar in features of structure and reproduction; Fauchea species form tetrasporangia in nemathecoid sori whereas in Gloiocladia they are formed sunken the the cortex in relatively unmodified sori.Fauchea species are mainly found in warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical waters, although F. repens is found in the western Mediterranean and the Atlantic coasts southern Spain and Algeria (Feldmann 1942), F. laciniata and F. fryeana are found on the Pacific coast of North America north to Alaska and British Columbia, respectively (Hawkes and Scagel 1986)

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Contributors
Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in CD format. These AlgaeBase descriptions are now being continually updated, and each current contributor is identified above. The PSA and AlgaeBase warmly acknowledge the generosity of all past and present contributors and particularly the work of Dr Parker.

Descriptions of chrysophyte genera were subsequently published in J. Kristiansen & H.R. Preisig (eds.). 2001. Encyclopedia of Chrysophyte Genera. Bibliotheca Phycologica 110: 1-260.

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Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 24 January 2017. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 22 November 2024