Liagoropsis — Doty and Abbott 
451 
15-18); and it appears in both species that in 
this polycarpogonial condition the remaining 
nearby carpogonial branches are suppressed in 
their development after one of the group has 
begun to develop a gonimoblast. However, Tri- 
chogloeopsis differs from all Helminthocladia- 
ceae in that it possesses sterile gonimoblastic 
rhizoids as daughter cells or continuations of 
the fertile system. In Liagoropsis there are no 
sterile cells associated with the gonimoblast, an 
unusual condition in this family. 
The unique way in which the gonimoblast is 
formed from irregular division of the zygote 
(i.e., fertilized carpogonium) and the sequence 
of carpospore production would also lead us to 
believe that Liagoropsis is more primitive than 
any other member of this family — certainly 
more primitive than Nemalion, which has been 
used classically as a "primitive” red alga. 
These latter two genera are rather distinctive 
in that the vegetative systems originating from 
the supporting cell tend to continue to grow be- 
yond the carpogonial branches they produce, so 
that some of the carpogonia appear to be lateral 
in age but not by an epinastic development of 
the apex of the supporting cell. This lack of 
epinastic development of the supporting cell we 
consider to be one of the most primitive of the 
attributes of Liagoropsis. 
Certainly, of the genera included in the Hel- 
minthocladiaceae by Kylin (1956), Liagoropsis 
is the least specialized and seems to stand with 
the simplest of the groups of genera we recog- 
nize. Table 2 presents our views of the general 
relationships of these major groups of genera 
and Liagoropsis. We (Abbott and Doty, I960) 
have made a suggestion as to the family names, 
but have continued the use of Helminthocladia- 
ceae above and in the title under which the 
present work was undertaken. We expect, how- 
ever, to continue the use of the name Nemali- 
onaceae for a family of algal genera of which 
Nemalion Duby ( 1830) is the type. We do not 
care to indicate a closer affinity for the Dermo- 
nemeae at this time though, in relation to the 
lateral position of their carpogonial branches 
and the degree of specialization of their carpo- 
gonial branches, they would seem perhaps to be 
more closely related to the Helminthocladiae 
than to the Nemalioneae. Similarly, and in 
agreement with Desikachary ( 1962 ) , we do not 
TABLE 2 
Familial and Subfamilial Relationships 
Among the Multiaxial Simpler Marine 
Genera of the Nemalionales Usually Placed 
IN THE HELMINTHOCLADIACEAE BY 
Previous Authors 
Nemalionaceae 
Helminthocladiaceae 
Nemalioneae* 
Dermonemae* 
Helminthocladiae 
Liagoropsis 
Cumagloia 
Liagora 
Nemalion 
Dermonema 
Helminth ora 
Trichogloea 
Trichogloeopsis 
H elminth o cladia 
* Schmitz and Hauptfleisch (1896) used Nemalieae and 
Dermonemeae, respectively, for these two subfamilial groups. 
The former would have included our group Helminthocladiae 
as well. 
feel it possible to postulate a generic phylogeny 
or family tree for the genera until more species 
have been studied in detail. 
SUMMARY 
One species, Liagoropsis schrammi (Maze 
and Schramm) Doty and Abbott, is recognized 
as occurring in both the western Atlantic and 
western Pacific, whereas three species have been 
recognized previously. The genus Liagoropsis is 
proposed for recognition as the simplest genus 
among the genera of a group we propose to 
treat as the Nemalioneae, a subfamily suggested 
to include (in addition to the type, Nemalion ) 
the genera Liagoropsis, Trichogloea, and Tricho- 
gloeopsis. However, we recognize Liagoropsis 
to be quite distinct in several respects from these 
other three genera. 
REFERENCES 
Abbott, I. A. 1945. The genus Liagora (Rho- 
dophyceae) in Hawaii. B. P. Bishop Museum, 
Occ. Pap. 18 (10): 145-169. 
and M. S. Doty. I960. Studies in 
the Helminthocladiaceae. II. Trichogloeopsis . 
Amer. Jour. Bot. 47(8): 632-640. 
Agardh, J. G. 1890. Florideae. In: Till Alg. Syst. 
Nya Bidrag, 6th Afd, p. 40. 
Batters, E. A. 1902. A catalogue of the British 
marine algae. Jour. Bot. 40 (suppl.) : 1-107. 
(Not seen.) 
