Pterocladiaceae
The Pterocladiaceae is a small family of red algae containing 2 genera of agarophytes.
They are found growing on the coast of Portugal, South Africa, India, Japan, Mexico, Chile and New Zealand.
From the Gelidiales order, Gelidium and Pterocladia, are two of the most widespread genera of the Gelidiaceae family. They are separated only by basic features of cystocarps. The genus Pterocladiella was later established to segregate from Pterocladia those species with distinct carposporophyte developmental characters.
Molecular analyses of taxa within the Gelidiales have identified four major lineages equivalent to Gelidiella, Pterocladia and Pterocladiella as sister taxa, and a fourth large clade including species of Acanthopeltis, Gelidium, Ptilophora, Porphyroglossum and Capreolia.
So the family of Pterocladiaceae was derived in 2006 to hold the genera of Pterocladia and Pterocladiella.
Type genus is ''Pterocladia''
Taxonomy
The family name of Pterocladiaceae is derived from the genus Pterocladia, which is derived from the Greek words pteron meaning wing and clados meaning branch.Genera
As accepted by GBIF;- Pterocladia J.Agardh, 1851
- *Including P. lucida J.Agardh, 1851
- Pterocladiella B.Santelices & M.H.Hommersand, 1997