Gerald T Kraft

• Dr
• University of Melbourne

Tasmania is an island state in south-eastern Australia that has a long and rich history of seaweed use, research, and development. It is a cool-temperate system with 750 macroalgal species currently described. Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples have lived on this land for at least 40,000 years utilising seaweed as food, shelter, water carriers and medici...

To assess the suitability of southern-Australian macroalgae as potential marine resources for fatty acids (FA), and in particular polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), analysis of 61 species, comprising of 11 Chlorophyta, 17 Phaeophyceae (Ochrophyta) and 33 Rhodophyta, was conducted. Total fatty acid (TFA) concentrations varied considerably (between...

The red algal genus Mychodea Hook.f. & Harv. is not only Australia’s largest wholly endemic macroalgal genus, it and the family Mychodeaceae (of which it is the sole member) appear to be the largest completely endemic algal genus and family from any continental landmass in the world. Kraft’s 1978 morpho-taxonomic monograph credited Mychodea with 11...

The current study presents the most detailed multigene phylogenetic assessment of the red algal family Kallymeniaceae to date emphasising the floras of Australia (220 specimens), Europe (19 specimens) and North America (54 specimens). Toward a natural classification and in light of our phylogenetic results, we propose numerous taxonomic changes inc...

Multigene phylogenetic analyses were directed at resolving the earliest divergences in the red algal subclass Rhodymeniophycidae. The inclusion of key taxa (new to science and/or previously lacking molecular data), additional sequence data (SSU, LSU, EF2, rbcL, COI-5P), and phylogenetic analyses removing the most variable sites (site stripping) hav...

Two new genera of tropical-/subtropical-Pacific macroalgae are proposed. The monotypic Crebradomus gen. nov., based on C. gongylocarpus sp. nov., is restricted to Lord Howe Island in the southern Australasian-Pacific Ocean. Dissimularia gen. nov. consists of the type species, D. dactylocarpa sp. nov., from its Lord Howe Island type locality, as wel...

Explaining spatial patterns of biological organisation remains a central challenge for biogeographic studies. In marine systems, large-scale ocean currents can modify broad-scale biological patterns by simultaneously connecting environmental (e.g. temperature, salinity and nutrients) and biological (e.g. amounts and types of dispersed propagules) p...

A new family, genus and species in the new order Entwisleiales of the subclass Nemaliophycidae are described for a subtidal marine red alga (Entwisleia bella F.J. Scott, G.W. Saunders & Kraft) from Tasmania in Australia’s cool-temperate southeast. Thalli are uniaxial, the stout cells of the single central-axial filament bearing varying numbers of w...

A rarely collected shallow-subtidal Hawaiian macroalga has been determined anatomically and molecularly to belong to an undescribed species of Tylotus J. Agardh, the most widely distributed genus of the small, mostly Australian-endemic family Dicranemataceae. Thalli are repent and imbricate on calcareous boulders at the type locality on O‘ahu, and...

The genus Lesleigha gen. nov., based on L. hawaiiensis sp. nov. from Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands, is characterized morphologically and anatomically and strongly supported as distinct from the other genera of the family Sebdeniaceae (Sebdenia and Crassitegula) primarily on the basis of mitochondrial COI-5P and nuclear SSU and LSU ribosomal DNA sequ...

The aim of the current investigation was to test the general convention that the Dasyaceae, Delesseriaceae and Rhodomelaceae are all monophyletic families of the red algal order Ceramiales. Phylogenetic relationships among 45 ceramialean taxa were determined, including eight ceramiacean, 18 dasyacean, nine delesseriacean and eight rhodomelacean spe...

With the death of Bryan Womersley in January of this year, not only has Australia lost its phycological leading light, but the world at large marks the passing of surely the finest macroalgal regional monographer of the 20th century. In the over 60 years of his active research, he and his students have elevated the broad coastal expanse of southern...

The senior author was fortunate in 1996 to dive on the remote Houtman Abrolhos Islands of Western Australia and view in situ the stunning “Asteromenia peltata” that is so strikingly illustrated by John Huisman (viewable on AlgaeBase). Five years later, during excursions to Bermuda and Lord Howe Island (tropical eastern Australia), he observed and c...

Nuclear small-subunit ribosomal DNA sequences were determined for 65 members of the Gigartinales and related orders. With representatives of 15 families of the Gigartinales sensu Kraft and Robins included for the first time, our alignment now includes members of all but two of the ca. 40 families. Our data continue to support ordinal status for the...

Nucleotide sequences of the nuclear, small-subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNAs, as inferred from polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified products, are presented for Areschougia congesta (Turner) J. Agardh (Solieriaceae), Dasyphloea insignis Montagne (Dumontiaceae), Sarcothalia crassifolia (C. Agardh) Edyvane & Womersley (Gigartinaceae), Nizymenia austra...

Nucleotide sequences of the nuclear, small-subunit ribosomal RNAs, as inferred from polymerase chain reaction amplified products, are introduced for representatives of the Dumontiaceae, Endocladiaceae, Halymeniaceae, and Kallymeniaceae of the order Cryptonemiales sensu Kylin, the Mychodeaceae, Phyllophoraceae, Schizymeniaceae, and Sebdeniaceae of t...

The recognition of broad biogeographic provinces provides an important framework for ecological and conservation biological research. Marine biologists have long recognized distinct biogeographic provinces in southern Australia, primarily on the basis of qualitative differences in intertidal species assemblages. Here we provide an a priori test for...

Appreciation of the true species diversity of the genus Ulva in Australian waters has been blinkered by the unproved assumption that its representatives there are largely cosmopolitan. As species of Ulva are some of the longest-standing and most widely reported taxa of macroalgae, the presumption that they are worldwide in distribution has led to m...

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Phylogenetic relationships among 69 species of the Ceramiales (51 Ceramiaceae, six Dasyaceae, seven Delesseriaceae, and five Rhodomelaceae) were determined based on nuclear SSU rDNA sequence data. We resolved five strongly supported but divergent lineages among the included Ceramiaceae: (i) the genus Inkyuleea, which weakly joins other orders of th...

SUMMARYA new species of Predaea (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta) is described from Hawaii. It is compared in important morphological details with other species of the genus, all of which are distributed in the subtropics. Predaea is likewise compared to the genera of Nemastomataceae, and should be included in that family. The genus Yadranella Ercegovic (...

The only member of the red algal family Solieriaceae known from New Zealand is the endemic Sarcodiotheca colensoi (Hook. & Harv.) Kylin. This study shows that it differs in several respects from the type S. furcata (Setch. & Gard.) Kylin; thus a new genus Placentophora is created for the New Zealand alga. Although P. colensoi nov. comb. is retained...

The Australian endemic family Nizymeniaceae, based on Nizymenia australis Sonder, consists of three species in the two genera Nizymenia (1 sp.) and Stenocladia (2 spp.). We have reassessed the generic composition of the family based on evidence from nonfibrillar wall polysaccharides, vegetative anatomy, and the nucleotide sequences of an internal t...

The extracelluar polysaccharides of five species of the family Acrotylaceae Schmitz [Acrotylus australis J. Agardh, Amphiplexia hymenocladioides J. Agardh, Antrocentrum nigrescens (Harvey) Kraft & Min-Thein, Hennedya crispa Harvey, and Ranavalona duckerae Kraft] were shown by compositional analyses, C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and...

Select species of the agarophyte Gracilaria were studied from southeastern Australia. The morphology and anatomy of species is described and molecular relations are inferred based on plastid and mitochon-drial DNA sequence data. Agar yields and qualities are determined for each species. Gracilaria chilensis, found in Tasmania and Victoria, is morph...

Womersleya monanthos (J. Agardh) Papenfuss is typically an epiphyte of larger brown and red algae that are common in drift along the southeastern coasts of Australia. A hitherto little-known member of the Phycodrys group of the Nitophylloideae, its reproductive features have been studied in detail and its taxonomic position clarified. Blades are po...

Struvea thoracica Kraft & Millar, sp. nov., is described from deep-water habitats along the mid-north to southern Great Barrier Reef and in New Caledonia. Plants reach 26 cm in length and at maturity consist of coarse fibrous blades to 2 mm in thickness, 18 cm in length, and 12 cm in width borne on simple to ramified stalks 8-18 cm in length and 2....

Several southern Australian red algae of the family Halymeniaceae (Cryptonemiales) are differentiated into hard, massive stalks and considerably softer laminar blades or phyllodes. The taxonomy, morphology and pit-connection ultrastructure of one such species, Cryptonemia kallymenioides (Harvey) Kraft comb. nov., are compared to C. undulata Sonder,...

Electron-probe X-ray microanalysis of freeze dried sections of growing branch tips of Thysanocladia densa Sander shows high concentrations of bromine in the region of the medulla. Indirect evidence infers that the Br is associated with intercellular, granular deposits which accumulate within the mucilage of the medulla. The concentration of Br decr...

Three new species of the genus Balliella Itono & Tanaka are described from eastern Australia. Balliella amphiglanda from Lord Howe I. and Port Hacking, N.S.W., is distinctive in producing either abaxial or adaxial gland cells from the basal cells of lateral branches and in having tetrasporangia restricted to short branches. Balliella repens, from T...

We have initiated comparative studies of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene structure to explore its potential to provide taxonomically useful data within the large red algal order Gigartinales. In southern Australia, this group is extremely diverse and includes large numbers of endemic taxa, many of potential economic importance. The 5.8S rRNA gene occurs...

The Dicranemataceae consists of five species in four genera of macroscopic red algae endemic to the southern half of Australia plus a single species from southern Japan. Investigations of the nonfibrillar wall components of five of the six species show that all are composed mainly of hybrid (or mixed) beta (β)/kappa(κ)-type carrageenans. Detailed s...

The polysaccharides extracted from Claviclonium ovatum were studied by a combination of compositional assays, reductive partial hydrolysis, linkage analysis, Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and 13C, 1H, and 13C/1H heteronuclear multiple quantum correlation (HMQC) two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The che...

An encrusting brown alga from subtidal habitats around the island of Oahu (Hawaiian Islands) represents only the second genus of the class Phaeophyceae to form calcium carbonate, which it deposits primarily as both extracellular and intracellular aragonite, admixed with small (3.3%) amounts of calcite. Plants form expanses 15–100+ cm in extent cons...

Polysaccharides were sequentially extracted from Australian Pterocladia lucida at 50 °C, to give the Warm Water (WW) fraction, and at 95 °C. The 95 °C extract was further separated into gelling (GF) and thaw water (TW) fractions by freezing-thawing. Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, compositional and linkage analyses, and physico-chem...

Summary Representatives of the two current species of Hydroclathrus, Hydroclathrus clathratus (C. Agardh) Howe (the generitype) and Hydroclathrus tenuis Tseng et Lu, are compared to recent collections of the genus from isolated localities in the central and south Pacific: Necker Island and Lord Howe Island, respectively. Although published descript...

The Solieriaceae, has the largest number of genera (16-18) of any family in the carrageenophyte order Gigartinales. One of these genera, Meristotheca, consists of three or four species of foliose, erect to prostrate plants sporadically recorded from the tropics of both hemispheres. The hot-water-soluble polysaccharides from Australian representativ...

Ostiophyllum sonderopeltae Kraft, gen. et sp. nov. (Gigartinaceae, Gigartinales) is an obligate epiphyte of Sonderopelta coriacea (Peyssonneliaceae, Gigartinales) in dimly illuminated, rough-water habitats at depths of 3-20 m in south-eastern Victoria and Tasmania. Plants consist of ovate to lobed, flattened blades < 3 cut in length and breadth tha...

Two new species of the red algal genus Predaea are described from Australia. The first, Predaea aurora Kraft et G.W. Saunders, sp. nov., is unusual in its cool-temperate distribution and in a number of anatomical attributes, most notably the rhizoid-like habit of the nutritive filaments associated with the auxiliary cells. The second species, Preda...

A new ceramiaceous alga, Sciurothamnion stegengae De Clerck et Kraft, gen. et sp. nov., is described from the western Indian Ocean and the Philippines. Sciurothamnion appears related to the tribe Callithamnieae on the basis of the position and composition of its procarps and by the majority of post-fertilization events. It differs, however, from al...

Recent collections of Rhodocallis elegans Kützing from southeastern Australia have permitted detailed observations of vegetative and reproductive structures that reveal features not exhibited by any existing tribe of Ceramiaceae. As a consequence, we establish the new tribe Rhodocallideae based on the unispecific genus Rhodocallis. Defining charact...

A minute parasite of Neosiphonia poko (Hollenberg) Abbott from a shallow lagoon on the central-Pacific Johnston Atoll is described as Neotenophycus ichthyosteus Kraft et Abbott, gen. et sp. nov. The infective parasite cell first connects to a central-axial cell of the host, then emerges from between host pericentral cells at a node before dividing...

A morphological, anatomical, and molecular study of the two genera (Heterocladia and Trigenea) and three species of the tribe Heterocladieae (Rhodomelaceae, Ceramiales) is presented. First collections of male and female gametophytes of Heterocladia australis Decaisne and Trigenea umbellata J. Agardh and of tetrasporophytes of the type species of Tr...

The three Australian-endemic species comprising the genus Aresehougia have been examined to determine the structure of their nonfibrillar wall components. The polysaccharide extracted from the most widely distributed species, A. congesta (Turner) J. Agardh, was shown by compositional analyses, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, linkage...

This review briefly characterizes the major Australian seaweed groups that elaborate gelling non-fibrillar wall components; it surveys the research, mostly conducted in the past decade, into the structure and potential applications of their polysaccharides. Recent emphasis has been placed on the chemistry of red-algal galactans, which has provided...

Hemineura is endemic to Australia and the sole member of the 'Hemineura-Gruppe', an informal taxon, equivalent to a tribe, that Kylin defined primarily by its bicarpogonial supporting cells. We have found that supporting cells carry not only two carpogonial branches but also two sterile groups, a type of procarp not known for any other member of th...

Examination of type and authentic material of the eleven currently recognized species of the green macroalgal genus Rhipilia Kutzing has shown that the most useful features for distinguishing species are the disposition and diameters of the blade siphons; tenacular number, position and shape; and the type and location of siphon constrictions. Sever...

The genus Lenormandia is composed of nine species from Australia and New Zealand. Some of the these are well known, but others are rare, obscure and ill-defined. We have examined material of all described species and found that they fall into two discrete groups that differ in apex morphology and position of reproductive structures. Plants of the f...

The monospecific genus Sonderella is endemic to Australia and has been the subject of speculation with regard to its taxonomic position. When the anatomy and reproduction of this genus were comprehensively described by Womersley in 1965, he recommended its inclusion in the Rhodomelaceae and foreshadowed that it would warrant its own tribe. Recent m...