Pterocladiella, a new genus in the Gelidiaceae (Gelidiales,Rhodophyta)

A new genus of marine red algae, Pterocladiella (Gelidiales), is proposed to accommodate those species previously assigned to Pterocladia that have the following features: intercalary carpogonia directed toward both surfaces of the thallus, nutritive filaments growing centripetally and forming a virtually solid cylinder around the central axis, and cystocarps usually attached to one side of the cystocarp floor with chains of carposporangia on the remaining three sides. The type species is Pterocladiella capillacea (Gmelin) comb. nov. (basionym: Fucus capillaceus Gmelin). Three other nomenclatural combinations are proposed: P. caerulescens (basionym: Gelidium caerulescens Kiitzing), P. melanoidea (basionym: Gelidium melanoideum Schousboe ex Bornet), and P. minima (basionym: Gelidiella minima Guiry et Womersley).