Description:

Thallus: forming upright bushy tufts, to 3 cm high, light to dark brown-red; branching irregular to dichotomous. Erect axis 80-250 µm diam., of four pericentral cells; cortication absent; segments 0.5-2.0 diameters long, longest near base decreasing in length toward apices; lateral branches gradually tapering toward apices. Apical filaments short, inconspicuous, soon deciduous, others report more persistent and attached for 20-30 segments; hair scar cells common but obscure. Attached by numerous unicellular rhizoids; rhizoids separated by cell walls, at proximal end of pericentral cells. Tetrasporangia spherical, to 75 µm diam., tetrahedrally divided, extremely swollen, solitary or in short somewhat spiral series in penultimate branches, often discontinuous.

Habitat:

Uncommon: on hard surfaces or epiphytic on larger algae; to 3 m deep.

Distribution:

Pacific Mexico, Pacific Panama - New record for Panama

Type Information:

Type locality: Tonga

Classification:

Major Group: Rhodophyta - Class: Florideophyceae - Order: Ceramiales - Family: Rhodomelaceae