Checklist of the benthic marine macroalgae from Algeria . I . Phaeophyceae

Ould-Ahmed, N., Gómez Garreta, A., Ribera Siguan, M.A. & Bouguedoura, N. 2013. Checklist of the benthic marine macroalgae from Algeria. I. Phaeophyceae. Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 70(2): 136-143. The seaweed diversity of the Mediterranean is still not completely known, especially in some areas of its African coasts. As an effort to complete a more detailed catalogue to fill such gap, an updated checklist of the brown seaweeds (Phaeophyceae) from Algeria, based on updated literature records, is provided using as starting point the checklist of PerretBoudouresque & Seridi published in 1989. As a result, the total number of taxa at specific and infraspecific levels accepted for Algeria, under current taxonomy and nomenclature, is 93.


INTRODUCTION
The flora of seaweeds on the Algerian coast has been well studied by classical French algologists, among them are Montagne (1838Montagne ( , 1846Montagne ( -1849Montagne ( , 1856)), Debray (1893Debray ( , 1897)), Feldmann & Feldmann-Mazoyer (1931-1961, see Perret-Boudouresque & Seridi, 1989).In 1989, Perret-Boudouresque & Seridi published a checklist of the benthic marine macroalgae which compiled all the information known on this area up to that moment.In 1992, a group of Mediterranean algologists provided the first part of the checklist of the Mediterranean seaweeds, corresponding to the Phaeophyceae (Ribera & al., 1992).In that paper, a taxonomical and nomenclatural critical revision of all the Mediterranean brown seaweeds was carried out.Concerning the Algerian flora, the paper by Perret-Boudouresque & Seridi (1989) was used as reference.In the two last decades, some authors have continued working on the marine flora from Algeria (Ould Ahmed & al., 1995;Ould Ahmed, 2005;Ould Ahmed & Meinesz, 1998, 2007;Seridi & al., 2007), In addition, there is more information which is often difficult to consult, since it is mostly included in unpublished papers, such as PhD theses (Seridi, 1990(Seridi, , 2007;;Kadari-Méziane, 1994;Ould-Ahmed, 1994, 2013).Báez & al. (2004Báez & al. ( , 2005a, b) , b) used the data of the Algerian Cystoseira species compiled in Ribera & al. (1992) to carry out a geographical analysis of species richness in the Mediterranean sea, without contributing any new data.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
All brown algal taxa reported in the literature from Algeria have been searched, critically revised and treated according to current taxonomy and nomenclature in order to compile an updated list of the Algerian Phaeophyceae.Taxonomy and nomenclature follow Guiry & Guiry (2013).In the catalogue, orders, genera and species were arranged alphabetically.When a taxon has been recorded under a synonym, this name is cited after the reference.For information included in unpublished works, locations are indicated after the authors' citations (Fig. 1).For each taxon the phytogeographic group is annotated according to Cormaci & al. (1982) For several species, comments on taxonomic, lifecycle stage or misidentifications are included.A list of taxa inquirenda as well as a list of taxa excludenda is also given.According to Cormaci & al. (2012), this species should be excluded from the Mediterranean algal flora.

DISCUSSION
The present checklist encompasses 93 accepted brown algal taxa registered to date in Algeria, 8 more than those included in Perret-Boudouresque & Seridi (1989).In addition, two taxa are considered as taxa inquirenda and two as taxa excludenda.In the great part of the Mediterranean countries, modern studies have enormously increased the known number of taxa of the flora of seaweeds.On the other hand, we have not found in Algeria many new records, perhaps because this flora had already been studied in depth by classical authors as stated in the introduction.
Bachelotia antillarum is a sub-cosmopolitan taxa cited previously only in the Mediterranean Sea by Schiffner & Vatova (1937) and Vatova (1940) from Venice Lagoon as Pylaiella fulvescens and based on the above papers reported by Furnari & al. (2010) from the Adriatic Sea.However, as indicated, Cormaci & al. (2012) excluded this taxon from the Adriatic Sea.We consider that the presence of this species in the Mediterranean Sea needs to be confirmed.Myriotrichia repens and Nemacystus flexuosus have been found only once by Ould-Ahmed (2013) on the Algerian coast, but both species are known on the African Mediterranean coasts in Tunisia (Ribera & al., 1992, the former species given erroneously as Myriotrichia clavaeformis Harvey).
Cystoseira barbata has been found by Ould-Ahmed (2013) in three locations of the Tipaza region.Although Perret-Boudouresque & Seridi (1989) included this species among the taxa excludenda, its presence was already cited by Ribera & al. (1992) on the nearby coasts of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.Cystoseira humilis has been cited by Ould-Ahmed (2013) in the National Park of Gouraya; this is the first citation for the African Mediterranean coasts since the citation by Báez & al. (2005a, b) is erroneous.This is because these authors used as reference Ribera & al. (2012), who did not cite this species in this area.Cystoseira mediterranea was cited by Seridi (1990) in three locations from the center of Algeria coasts and was previously cited by Ribera & al. (1992) in Tunisia and on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco.
Sphacelaria plumula was found by Kadari-Mèziane (1994) in the area of Bou-Ismail and by Ould-Ahmed (2013) in several locations along the coasts of Algeria; this species was cited in Libya and Tunisia by Ribera & al. (1992).Stragularia clavata was cited by Kadari-Mèziane (1994) in the area of Bou-Ismail.This species was known from the North and East of the Mediterranean Sea but not from the African Mediterranean coasts (Ribera & al., 1992, Guiry & Guiry, 2013).
The most cited taxa in Algeria by different authors and in many places on theses coasts belong to Fucales (Cystoseira amentacea var.stricta, Cystoseira compressa, Cystoseira tamariscifolia and Sargassum vulgare), Dictyotales (Dictyopteris polypodioides, Dictyota dichotoma, Dictyota fasciola, Dictyota spiralis and Padina pavonica) and Sphacelariales (Halopteris filicina, Stypocaulon scoparium and Colpomenia sinuosa).On the other hand, some taxa often cited by classical authors in many places on the central coasts of Algeria are rarely cited in recent papers.This is the case of Cystoseira sauvageauana only cited in two places (Cherchell and Kouali) by Ould-Ahmed (2013), and of Phyllariopsis brevipes only found in the Natural Park of Taza (Ould-Ahmed, 2013).In the case of the latter species, the lack of recent citations could be due to the subtidal habitat of the species, a habitat that is not usually studied.Even other subtidal species previously cited by classical authors have not been found recently, such as Laminaria ochroleuca, Laminaria rodriguezii, Sargassum acinarium, Sargassum hornschuchii and Sargassum trichocarpum.
Colpomenia peregrina is the sole Algerian Phaeophyceae included in the list of introduced species of the Mediterranean Sea (Zenetos & al., 2010(Zenetos & al., , 2012)).This species has an Indo-Pacific origin and has been found one meter deep in a Caulerpa racemosa (Forsskål) J. Agardh meadow (Ould-Ahmed, 2013).
Biogeographically, the Algerian flora of Phaeophyceae is characterized by a high number of Cosmopolitan or Sub-cosmopolitan taxa (31 taxa, 37%), followed by the Mediterranean (25 taxa, 30%), the Atlantic (20 taxa, 24%) and the Indo-Atlantic (9 taxa, 11%).The Circumboreal and Circumtropical taxa are scarcely represented (2 taxa each, 2%).Concerning the Mediterranean taxa, almost half correspond to the Sargassaceae family, which make up the most characteristic communities of vegetation in the Mediterranean Sea.

Fig. 1 .
Fig. 1.Geographical distribution of the studied locations along the Algerian coast.