| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立海洋大學 === 海洋生物研究所 === 91 === The taxonomic history of the red seaweeds originally grouped in the genus Laurencia Lamouroux 1813 (Rhodophyta, Ceramiales, Rhodomelaceae) is long and problematic. Currently three genera are included in the Laurencia complex: Laurencia, Chondrophycus and Osmundea. The taxonomic use of corps en cerise, a cellular inclusion mainly observed in epidermal cells and trichoblasts in living specimens of this group was first evaluated in the 1940’s and suggested to be of value. In Taiwan, work with Laurencia has been done apparently without taking the corps en cerise into account, as it is not included in species description notes. Therefore, this study was undertaken to build information on Taiwan members of the Laurencia complex while integrating information on corps en cerise, with the possibility that by routinely including corps en cerise features, identifications will be more reliable. A total of 108 jars of specimens were collected and examined from Jan. 23, 1999 to Feb. 10, 2000 at 20 collecting sites in northeastern and souther Taiwan and off-shore islands. To date, Osmundea is a genus that has a restricted distribution mainly in the European Atlantic, Pacific North America and the Mediterranean. Osmundea is distinguished by reproductive features and no members of this genus were found collected in this study. As for the other two genera in the Laurencia complex, this research supports previous findings that corps en cerise are present in Laurencia and not Chondrophycus, and therefore are very useful for separating specimens at an early sorting stage. Laurencia specimens reliably display from 1-4 corps en cerise depending on the species. The number of corps en cerise was found to be a stable feature regardless of season, collecting locality or life history stage of the specimen. However, after specimens are placed in preservative, the corps en cerise loses its refractiveness and becomes almost indistinguishable within 90 minutes. This study provides evidence that routine observation of corps en cerise in freshly collected specimens can assist considerably in identification of members of the Laurencia complex in Taiwan.
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