BATRACHOSPERMUM (BATRACHOSPERMALES, RHODOPHYTA) IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW-ZEALAND - NEW TAXA AND EMENDED CIRCUMSCRIPTIONS IN SECTIONS ARISTATA, BATRACHOSPERMUM, TURFOSA AND VIRESCENTIA

Fifteen species of Batrachospermum from Australia and New Zealand are documented, including (except for the recently described B. antipodite s Entwisle) descriptions, photomicrographs, maps and keys. The tempera te region particularly boasts many intriguing and endemic taxa. Ten sp ecies are described as being new to science: B. discorum, B. kraftii, B. ranuliferum, E. antiquum, B. theaquum, B. debilis, B. campyloclonum , B. prominens, B. terawhiticum and B. wattsii. Diagnostic characters include trichogyne shape, carpogonium morphology and disposition, carp osporophyte morphology (including the presence of indeterminate gonimo blast filaments), carposporangia morphology and some vegetative featur es such as fascicle cell shape. Batrachospermum cayennense Mont. ex Ku tz., B. arcuatum Kylin, B. anatinum Sirodot are reported for the first time from the Australia-New Zealand region, and the circumscription o f the cosmopolitan B. gelatinosum (L.) DC. is expanded. All species ha ve 'well-developed' whorls, more or less straight carpogonial branches , and carpogonia with a symmetrical base. Thus they are referable to s ection Aristata, Batrachospermum, Turfosa or Virescentia. However, man y of the new taxa are difficult to allocate in the existing sectional system.