MELANAMANSIA-GLOMERATA, COMB-NOV, AND AMANSIA-RHODANTHA, 2 HITHERTO CONFUSED SPECIES OF INDO-PACIFIC RHODOPHYCEAE

Amansia glomerata C. Agardh had been reported from widespread localiti es in the Indo-Pacific region, including Africa's east coast. Numerous plants from the Hawaiian Islands, from where the species, including t he lectotype specimen, was originally described, were found to have ps eudopericentral cells, a characteristic of the recently described genu s Melanamansia. Transfer of this species to that genus is made. The sp ecimens from the Natal coast of South Africa, previously identified as A. glomerata, do not have pseudopericentral cells and belong in the g enus Amansia. They are correctly named A. rhodantha, a species first d escribed from Mauritius and previously merged with A. glomerata. The t wo species closely resemble one another in several superficial charact ers, but are generically distinct owing to their basic anatomical diff erences.