Pterocladiastrum The Pterocladiaceae is a small family of red algae containing 2 genera of agarophytes.

[1] They are found growing on the coast of Portugal, South Africa, India, Japan, Mexico, Chile and New Zealand.

Lamouroux and Pterocladia J. Agardh, are two of the most widespread genera (which have been often confused for each other) of the Gelidiaceae family.

[3] 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 (Freshwater et al. 1995, Bailey and Freshwater 1997, Freshwater and Bailey 1998, Shimada et al.

[3] Type genus is Pterocladia J. Agardh (1851: xi)[3] 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.