Phenetic implications of structural features of the perennating phase in the life history of Porphyra and Bangia (Bangiophyceae, Rhodophyta)

Abstract

A cytological survey of the vegetative cells of the microscopic and macroscopic phases of the life history of twenty species of the Bangiaceae in the Bangiophyceae has shown that these two stages differ in a number of structural characteristics. The microscopic conchocelis phase resembles Florideophyceae which may have three similar vegetative phases more closely than the macroscopic phase from which it arises. This indicates that the conchocelis may serve as a link between the two main groups of the red algae.