Nitophyllum venulosum Zanardini, 1866: 143–146, pl. II [XLIX] (type locality: Zadar, Croatia).
Acrosorium venulosum (Zanardini) Kylin, 1924: 77.
Misapplied names (fide Wynne, 1989b):
Nitophyllum uncinatum.—Grunow, 1867: 84–85.— Reichardt, 1871: 26.— J. Agardh, 1876: 465–466.— Hemsley, 1884: 281.— Barton, 1893: 144.— J. Agardh, 1898: 65–66.— De Toni, 1900: 650–651.— Delf & Michell, 1921: 111.— Weber-van Bosse, 1923: 389.
Acrosorium uncinatum.—Børgesen, 1937b: 342–343.— Stephenson, 1947: 301.— Papenfuss, 1952: 181.— S. Dixit, 1966: 19.— S. Dixit, 1970: 123.— V. Krishnamurthy & H. Joshi, 1970: 24.— Isaac, 1971: 19.— Simons, 1977: 39, fig. 105.— Lawson, 1980: 33.— Seagrief, 1980: 27, fig. on pl. 10.— Untawale, Dhargalkar, & Agadi, 1983: [35].— Barratt et al., 1984: species list.— Lambert & Steinke, 1986b: 211.— Bolton & Stegenga, 1987: 170.— Seagrief, 1988: 66, fig. 5:15.— R. Anderson & Stegenga, 1989: 302.— V. Krishnamurthy & Varadarajan, 1991b: 65–67, figs. 20–26.— Farrell, Critchley, & Aken, 1993: 151.— Branch et al., 1994: 324.
INDIAN OCEAN DISTRIBUTION: India, Indonesia (Java), Kenya, St. Paul Island, South Africa, Sri Lanka.
Note: Wynne (1989b) reviewed thoroughly the taxonomic and nomenclatural history of the alga known at that time as Acrosorium uncinatum, focusing on its treatment by J. Agardh (1852 [1851–1863]: 654–655) as Nitophyllum uncinatum. While basing his description largely on Mediterranean material, including the only fertile specimen seen by him, which he had collected at Livorno (Italy), J. Agardh cited as a synonym Fucus laceratus S. Gmelin var. uncinatus Turner (1807–1808: 151–152, pl. 68: figs. c, d; lectotype locality: Tenby, Pembroke, Wales fide Papenfuss, 1952: 181). In accordance with his custom, he cited "(J. Ag. mscr.)'' after the binomial, indicating that he was the first to use the epithet at the rank of species. Because a name has priority only within its rank (Art. 11.2), J. Agardh was not obligated to retain the epithet uncinatus. The fact that he did so, however, supports Wynne's contention that N. uncinatum is not a new species attributable directly to J. Agardh, but rather an elevation of Turner's variety to the rank of species. Wynne found that the lectotype of Turner's variety (in K at BM) is representative of Cryptopleura ramosa (Hudson) Lily Newton (1931: 332) (Ulva ramosa Hudson, 1762: 476; type locality: Lancaster, England). This finding was contrary to the opinion of Papenfuss (l.c.), who stated that the lectotype was representative of Acrosorium, but in agreement with the position of British phycologists, who recognized in their flora a common uncinate form of Cryptopleura as well as an uncommon uncinate species of Acrosorium. Kylin (1924: 78), who considered N. uncinatum J. Agardh a new species based on Mediterranean material, attempted to transfer it to Acrosorium. The resulting binomial, Acrosorium uncinatum, is to be treated as the name of a new species validated by reference to J. Agardh's description. Its date is 1924, however, so that A. venulosum Zanardini, the synonym chosen by Wynne to apply to J. Agardh's material, has priority. It may be noted that Wynne's concept of A. venulosum is based on an interpretation of Zanardini's protologue rather than on an examination of the type specimen.