The marine benthic flora of the Cape Hangklip area and its phytogeographical affinities

A detailed collection of intertidal and subtidal marine macroalgal species from the Cape Hangklip area, a site centrally located in the south coast/west coast overlap, yielded a list of 199 taxa (27 Chlorophyta, 25 Phaeophyta, 147 Rhodophyta). The list of taxa included four new records for southern Africa (Aphanocladia cf. skottsbergii, Audouinella endophytica, Centroceras distichum and Grateloupia doryphora), five undescribed species (Antithamnion sp., Colaconema sp., Erythrocladia sp., Erythroglossum sp. and Pterosiphonia sp.) and one rhodophyte of uncertain affinity, probably representing a new genus in the Ceramiaceae. A new combination, Colaconema caespitosum (J. Ag.) comb. nov. is proposed.A summary of the distribution of 170 species with adequate distribution records indicates that there is no dominance of species with warm-water or cold-water affinities. It is demonstrated that the south coast/west coast overlap area contains many west and south coast species which reach the limit of their ranges here