Marine algal flora of French Polynesia II. Chlorophyta (green algae)

This second paper in a monographic series on the marine algae of French Polynesia gives a detailed coverage of the species of Chlorophyta occurring in these islands. A total of 81 taxa are presented; of these, 23 represent new records for the local flora, 3 (Halimeda heteromorpha, Microdictyon sp. and Struveopsis sp.) are new species, and 2 are newly-described forms of Halimeda distorta (Yamada) Hillis-Colinvaux. The benthic marine green algal flora has most affinities with the neighbouring Cook Islands (Sørensen Index of 0.43) but only with 44% of shared species with that archipelago, while 69 and 64% of species are shared with the Fijian and Micronesian islands, respectively. About 75% of the flora is shared with the Indian and Pacific Ocean in general; 3 species (or about 4% of the total flora) seem restricted to French Polynesia