Morphological studies of Hapalospongidion macrocarpum and Nemoderma tingitanum (phaeophyceae) from the Salvage Islands (Madeira archipelago)

Abstract

Relatively little attention has been given to the study of the marine macroalgae of the Salvage Islands. Phycological investigations have only been conducted sporadically, mainly by visiting scientists over short periods of time (PICCONE 1884; GAIN & MIRANDE 1912; GAIN 1914; PICKERING & HANSEN 1969; LEVRING 1974; GILRODRÍGUEZ et al. 1978; WEISSCHER 1982, 1983; AUDIFFRED & WEISSCHER 1984; AUDIFFRED & PRUD'HOMME VAN REINE 1985; PRUD'HOMME VAN REINE et al. 1994; PARENTE et al. 2000a). Since LEVRING (1974), all the published information has been widely scattered in the literature, making it difficult to complete any biogeographical assessment of the Macaronesian marine algal flora. NETO et al. (2001), however compiled a checklist and bibliography of the marine plants of the Madeira Archipelago which listed a total of 68 species of Phaeophyceae, 42 of them occurring in the Salvage Islands. The latter number was increased to 53 by PARENTE et al. (2000a). When compared to the Canary Islands (125 Phaeophyceae, see HAROUN et al. 2002), this number can be considered low, particularly when the tuft-forming and crustose brown algae are considered. In fact, the checklist of NETO et al. (2001) recorded only six small tufted and two crustose species of brown algae for the Madeira Archipelago.