Corallina opuntia Linnaeus, 1758: 805 (lectotype locality: Jamaica fide Hillis, 1959: 361).
Halimeda opuntia (Linnaeus) Lamouroux, 1816: 308.—Harvey, 1857a: no. 71.— Montagne & Millardet, 1862: 5.— G. Martens, 1868: 25, 64–65.— G. Martens, 1869b: 456.— G. Martens, 1871b: 465.— Dickie, 1877b: 7.— Sonder, 1879: 84.— Theobald, 1883: 28.— Hemsley, 1886: 340.— G. Murray, 1887: 39.— Prain, 1892: 342, 359.— Möbius, 1893: 137.— Hieronymus, 1895b: 24.— De Wildeman, 1897a: 27.— De Wildeman, 1897b: 76.— De Wildeman, 1899: 11.— Barton, 1901: 18–20, figs. 19, 25–27.— Barton, 1903b: 164.— Svedelius, 1906b: 196.— Reinbold, 1907: 556.— A. Gepp & E. Gepp, 1908: 181.— A. Gepp & E. Gepp, 1909: 391.— Schröder, 1912: 296.— Weber-van Bosse, 1913a: 121.— De Toni, 1923: 482.— Jadin, 1935: 157.— Børgesen, 1936: 71.— Børgesen, 1940: 61.— Børgesen, 1946: 43.— Biswas, 1949b: 38.— Newton, 1953: 396, 397, 404.— Purchon & Enoch, 1954: 58.— Chacko, Mahadevan, & R. Ganesan, 1955: 11.— Lind, 1956: 26.— O. Schmidt, 1957: fig. 45:10.— Hillis, 1959: 359–363, pl. 2: figs. 7, 8; pl. 5: fig. 3; pl. 6: fig. 6; pl. 7: fig. 3; pl. 10.— Gerloff, 1960: 624.— Chuang, 1961: 42, pl. 3: 3.— Durairatnam, 1961a: 24, pl. VI: figs. 1, 2.— Chassé, 1963: 239.— S. Lee, 1966: 263, 264, 265, 271.— Sigee, 1966: 71.— W.R. Taylor, 1966a: 353–354.— Tsuda & Newhouse, 1966: 96–97.— Isaac, 1967: 77.— Johnson, 1967b: 29, fig. 2.— S. Dixit, 1968: 16.— W. Isaac & F. Isaac, 1968: 27, pl. 5: B.— Mahadevan & Nayar, 1968: 150.— J. Taylor, 1968: 152, 154.— Cabanis, Chabouis, & Chabouis, 1969: 309.— Umamaheswara Rao, 1969d: 40.— V. Krishnamurthy & H. Joshi, 1970: 7.— J. Taylor & M. Lewis, 1970: 202.— Davies, Stoddart, & Sigee, 1971: 242, 244.— Kohn, 1971: 7, 10.— Rhyne, 1971: 53.— Umamaheswara Rao, 1972: 221, figs. 3–5.— K. Srinivasan, 1973: 40, pl. XL.— Egerod, 1974: 147, figs. 59–61.— Islam, 1974b: 85.— Egerod, 1975: 61.— Sartoni, 1975: 286.— Velasquez & Lewmanomont, 1975: 7.— Durairatnam & Ragunathamuthaliar, 1976: table 1.— Islam, 1976: 24, pl. 13: fig. 96.— Jaasund, 1976: 33, fig. 65.— Sartoni, 1976: 122.— Faure & Montaggioni, 1977: 661.— Hackett, 1977: 26.— Jaasund, 1977d: 514.— M. Joseph, 1978a: 17.— Pichon, 1978: 151, 162, 236, 414.— Titlyanova & Butorin, 1978: 20, 25.— Knutzen & Jaasund, 1979: 4.— Mshigeni, 1979: 438.— Sartoni, 1979: 284–285, figs. 4a–c, 7B.— Hillis-Colinvaux, 1980: 110–112, fig. 19.— Lawson, 1980: 14.— Mahendran et al., 1980: table 1.— Russell, 1981: 467.— A. Sarma, Satapathy, & D. Rao, 1981: table 4.— Teo & Wee, 1983: 53, fig. 52.— Untawale, Dhargalkar, & Agadi, 1983: [14].— L. Chou & Wong, 1984: 23.— Mshigeni, 1984: table 1.— Mshigeni, 1985: 11, 15.— Payri, 1985: 640.— Phang, 1985: color photo on p. 21.— Chennubhotla, Kaliaperumal, & Kalimuthu, 1987a: 102–103.— Jagtap, 1987: table 1.— Hillis-Colinvaux, 1988: 16 (table 1).— Moorjani & Simpson, 1988: 15, pl. 26 (right).— Awasthi, 1989: 78.— Coppejans & Beeckman, 1989: 386.— Untawale & Jagtap, 1989: table I.— Coppejans & Verellen, 1991: 16.— M. Littler, D. Littler, & Titlyanov, 1991: 203, fig. 4D, tables 3, 4.— Phang & Wee, 1991: 58.— Subramonia Thangam & Kathiresan, 1991: 84.— Bhakuni et al., 1992: 515.— Coppejans, Beeckman, & De Wit, 1992: 64.— Coppejans & Prud'homme van Reine, 1992a: 176.— Jagtap, 1992: 57.— Kalugina-Gutnik, Perestenko, & Titlyanova, 1992: 24 (table 1).— Premnathan et al., 1992: table I.— Titlyanov et al., 1992: 17 (table 1).— Titlyanova, Perestenko, & Kalugina-Gutnik, 1992: 45.— Jagtap, 1993: table I.— Wynne, 1993: 23, fig. 11.— Bakus et al., 1994: 127.— Ballesteros, 1994: 539.— Kerkar, 1994: table 1.— E. Drew, 1995: 144.— Wynne, 1995: 331.
Taxonomic synonyms:
Flabellaria multicaulis Lamarck, 1813 [1813–1815]: 302 (type locality: not specified).
Halimeda multicaulis (Lamarck) Lamouroux, 1816: 307.—G. Martens, 1868: 25, 66–67.
Halimeda triloba Decaisne, 1842b: 102 (lectotype locality: China Sea fide Barton, 1901: expl. pl. II: fig. 20).—Kützing, 1849: 504.— Kützing, 1857: 9, pl. 22: fig. III.— G. Murray, 1887: 39.
Halimeda opuntia (Linnaeus) Lamouroux forma triloba (Decaisne) J. Agardh, 1887: 84–85 (including Indian Ocean records).—De Toni, 1889: 522.— Barton, 1903a: 476.— Weber-van Bosse, 1913a: 122.— Børgesen, 1936: 71.— Lind, 1956: 26.— Gerloff, 1960: 624.— S. Dixit, 1968: 16.— Lawson, 1980: 14.
INDIAN OCEAN DISTRIBUTION: Aldabra Islands, Amirante Islands, Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, Burma (Coco Group), Cargados Carajos, Chagos Archipelago (including Egmont Atoll), Comoro Islands, Diego Garcia Atoll, Djibouti, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Laccadive Islands, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius (including Agalega Islands), Mozambique, Nicobar Islands, Réunion, Rodriguez Island, Saya de Malha Bank, Seychelles (including Mahé Island), Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand.
Note: The records of Halimeda opuntia include citations of "forma typica'', forma opuntia, and var. opuntia. Halimeda multicaulis and H. triloba were merged into H. opuntia by Barton (1901: 19). Hillis (1959: 360) did not give taxonomic recognition to forma triloba. Djibouti and Mozambique are included in the distribution on the basis of specimens in UC collected by Papenfuss and Scagel and determined by Hillis-Colinvaux.