Chondria rubra Harvey, 1863: pl. CCLXXX: figs. 1, 2 (not figs. 3, 4 = Hypnea ramentacea (C. Agardh) J. Agardh) (type locality: Western Australia [probably south of Fremantle fide Gordon-Mills & Womersley, 1984: 149]).—Falkenberg, 1901: 209–210.
Rhododactylis rubra (Harvey) J. Agardh, 1876: 568 (in part).—Sonder, 1880: 27 (in part).— J. Agardh, 1897: 46–47 (in part).— De Toni, 1900: 486–487 (in part).
Husseyella rubra (Harvey) Gordon-Mills & Womersley, 1984: 147–159, figs. 1–24.
Husseya rubra (Harvey) P. Silva.
Taxonomic synonyms:
* Chondriopsis corallorhiza J. Agardh, 1885: 92–93 (type locality: Geographe Bay, Western Australia).—J. Agardh, 1892: 153.
Chondria corallorhiza (J. Agardh) Falkenberg, 1901: 720.—De Toni, 1903: 844–845.— Lucas, 1909: 40.
* Rhodomela erinacea J. Agardh, 1885: 96–97 (type locality: Bunbury, Western Australia fide Gordon-Mills & Womersley, 1984: 149).—De Toni, 1903: 1133.— Lucas, 1909: 47.— V. May, 1965: 375.
INDIAN OCEAN DISTRIBUTION: Australia.
Note: Working in Harvey's herbarium (TDC), Schmitz (in Falkenberg, 1901: 209–210) found that Harvey had confused representatives of two species when describing Chondria rubra, one (sterile) referable to Chondria or a closely related genus, the other (cystocarpic) to Hypnea. This confusion was confirmed by Gordon-Mills & Womersley (l.c.), who referred the cystocarpic plant to Hypnea episcopalis J. Hooker & Harvey, treated as a taxonomic synonym of H. ramentacea (C. Agardh) J. Agardh on page 304 of this catalogue. They lectotypified C. rubra with the rhodomelaceous element and referred three synonyms to this name: Chondriopsis corallorhiza J. Agardh (1885), Rhodomela erinacea J. Agardh (1885), and Husseya australis J. Agardh (1901: 127; type locality: Port Elliot, South Australia), the type of its generic name. Rhododactylis J. Agardh (1876: 568) was described as a member of the Hypneaceae comprising two species, R. rubra (Harvey) J. Agardh, based on Chondria rubra Harvey, and R. bulbosa (Harvey) J. Agardh, based on Chondria bulbosa Harvey (q.v.), without an indication of which species was the type. Kylin (1932: 48) lectotypified this generic name with C. rubra. Because J. Agardh's description of Rhododactylis rubra was based largely on the hypneaceous element of C. rubra, Gordon-Mills & Womersley (1984: 155) placed the generic name in the synonymy of Hypnea. They incorrectly accredited R. rubra directly to J. Agardh and chose a specimen in the Agardh Herbarium as lectotype. According to legislation (Art. 10) introduced at Sydney in 1981, the type of Rhododactylis must be the type of Chondria rubra unless conservation of a different type is effected. Thus Rhododactylis is the correct name for the genus currently called Husseyella Papenfuss (1958: 105), a replacement for Husseya J. Agardh (1901: 123–127), which is treated as a homonym (see Art. 53.3) of Husseia Berkeley 1847 in the fungi. Considering that the generic description of Rhododactylis was based on a hypneaceous alga, taking up this name for a genus of Rhodomelaceae is likely to cause confusion. A proposal to avoid this undesirable consequence by conserving the generic name Husseya J. Agardh has been published (P. Silva, 1995).