Life History of Bangia fuscopurpurea (Dillw.) Lyngb. in Culture

Abstract

Two types of spore germination occur in the genus Bangia. The bipolar type is the most frequent, the resultant germlings developing into filaments which resemble the parent thallus. In addition, unipolar germination of certain spores to form filamentous growths with elongate cells has been reported^1–6. Drew⁷ was able to identify similar filamentous growths obtained from spore germination in Porphyra as the alga previously described as Conchocelis rosea Batters. Later, Drew referred to Conchocelis, the product of germination of certain spores in Bangia, although she was not able to obtain the complete life history in culture^3,4. Kurogi⁵ reported completion of the life history in culture for Bangia gloiopeltidicola, giving no details, while Ogata⁸ reported numerous uniseriate plants, presumably of Bangia fuscopurpurea, growing on calcite in which the Conchocelis-phase of that species had been grown, without being able to indicate their origin.