Crustose sporophytes of Colpomenia bullosa (Scytosiphonaceae, Phaeophyceae) in nature

Crustose sporophytes of Colpomenia bullosa (Saunders) Yamada (Scytosiphonac eae, Phaeophyceae) were collected in Oshoro and Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan, a nd identified by laboratory cultivation and DNA sequences of the Rubisco sp acer and the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region of the nuclear rib osomal DNA cistron. The sporophyte morphology of C. bullosa is characterist ic, with crustose thalli consisting of upwardly and downwardly curved branc hed filaments, unilocular zoidangia lateral on the bases of the paraphyses, and clavate ascocysts among the paraphyses. This study is the first to des cribe in detail these crustose brown algae. (C) 2001 Adac/Editions scientif iques et medicales Elsevier SAS.