A floristic account of the benthic marine algae of Tuscany (Western Mediterranean Sea)

A floristic account of the benthic marine algae of Tuscany (north-western Italy) is presented, On the basis of literature reports and persona I observations of the authors, a check-list was prepared; the flora consists of 471 taxa (76 Chlorophycota, 89 Phaeophycota and 306 Rhodophycota), 35 of which are now records for the region. Because of the little number of records in the Mediterranean or the particular habitat where they were collected, some of the new records are of particular ecological or biogeographical interest: Symphyocladia marchantioides, Scytosiphon sp., Polysiphonia subtilissima, Halosia clisae, Polysiphonia perforans, Laurencia chondrioides. The overall composition of the algal flora of Tuscany is similar to that of other western and central Mediterranean regions and the few floristic peculiarities are either the result of introductions or morphologically very close to much more common species.