Note: The nomenclatural status of this genus is discussed in the appended Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Notes. (See Classification of Rhodophyceae subclass Bangiophycidae [p. 912].)
Bangia alsidii Zanardini, 1840a: 136 (type locality: Trieste, Italy fide Zanardini, 1841: 217).
Goniotrichum alsidii (Zanardini) Howe, 1914: 75.—Stephenson, 1947: 304.— Subbaramaiah, 1974: 59.— Islam, 1976: 49, pl. 49: fig. 275.— Lawson, 1980: 46.— Allender, 1981: 19, 20, 22.— Moazzam & Shameel, 1985: 144–145, fig. 3.— Bolton & Stegenga, 1987: 174.— R. Anderson & Stegenga, 1989: 303.— Shameel & J. Tanaka, 1992: 43.
Stylonema alsidii (Zanardini) K. Drew, 1956: 72.—Kalugina-Gutnik, Perestenko, & Titlyanova, 1992: 16 (table 1).— Titlyanova, Perestenko, & Kalugina-Gutnik, 1992: 42.
Taxonomic synonym:
Bangia elegans Chauvin, 1842: 33–35 (type locality: Arromanches, Calvados, France).
Goniotrichum elegans (Chauvin) Zanardini, 1847: 249.—Bornet, 1885: 17.— Reinbold, 1907: 566.— Børgesen, 1933b: 113.— Børgesen, 1934b: 31.— Kylin, 1938: 3.— Børgesen, 1942b: 5–6.— Levring, 1953: 461.— Pocock, 1958: 25.— S. Dixit, 1966: 10.— V. Krishnamurthy & H. Joshi, 1970: 16.— Islam, 1974b: 87.— Seagrief, 1980: 24, fig. on pl. 6.— Untawale, Dhargalkar, & Agadi, 1983: [26].— Seagrief, 1988: 48, fig. 5:6.— Desikachary, V. Krishnamurthy, & M. Balakrishnan, 1990: 11–12, figs. 2A–C.
Stylonema elegans (Chauvin) V. May, 1965: 352, 354.
Misapplied name (fide Ross, 1965: 95–97):
Goniotrichum confervicola.—G. Martens, 1868: 22, 56–57.— De Wildeman, 1897a: 182.
INDIAN OCEAN DISTRIBUTION: Aldabra Islands, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia (Timor), Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Pakistan, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania.
Note: The conspecificity of Bangia alsidii and Goniotrichum elegans was proposed by Zanardini (1873: 457), who, however, recognized the former as a variety of the latter. The varietal distinction is not usually recognized, but if it is, G. elegans must be subordinated to G. alsidii.