Catalogue of marine benthic green algae (Chlorophyta) of New South Wales, including Lord Howe Island, south-western Pacific

Abstract

The marine benthic green macroalgae of the New South Wales mainland and of Lord Howe Island are listed, each with bibliographic, distributional and specimen-voucher details. Included are 113 species in 9 orders, 14 families and 38 genera, of which 12 species are based on New South Wales types. With respect to biodiversity, New South Wales is as rich in numbers of genera and species as southern Australia. Eight genera (Pedobesia, Boodlea, Neomeris, Trichosolen, Ventvicaria, Caulerpella, Pseudochlorodesmis, Sporocladopsis) and 41 species are new records for the State, and 14 species are newly recorded for the Australian continent. The largest genus represented is Cladophora; 22 species are recorded, 13 from Lord Howe Island alone, and 7 are new to Australia (C. cymopoliae, C. colabense, C. dotyana, C. nigrescens, C. ohkuboana, C. patentirainea, C. ryukyuensis). Examination of type and recently collected material of Caulerpa annulata (from Port Arthur, Tasmania) shows it to be synonymous with the earlier Caulerpa hodgkinsoniae (from Ballina, New South Wales).