Odoardo Beccari’s Malesian herbarium in Florence: the disclosure of a hidden treasure. 2. Algae

Odoardo Beccari was one of the most important Italian naturalists in the second half of the nineteenth century, and a pioneer in Southeast Asia wildlife exploration. After a first contribution dealing with Zingiberales, here we provide the second one to the revision of his main scientific legacy, the Malesian Herbarium kept in Florence, dedicated to algae. After most of algae specimens was revised by the renowned Venetian phycologist Giovanni Zanardini, a new, accurate taxonomic analysis allowed the identification of 37 still unidentified specimens, 12 to the genus and 25 to the species level. The taxonomic diversity of the collection is relatively small in respect to the potential one known from the seas and the inland waters of the Indo-Malesian area. Nevertheless, it includes representatives of 107 taxa from seven phyla, 15 classes, 37 orders and 56 families. Sixty-four original specimens were found, for which 32 new names had been published. Together with the few found in other herbaria, this allowed us to designate 17 new lectotypes and complete the lectotypification of further 6 names. Finally, the loss of most specimens coming from Beccari’s travel in Papua and Maluku is discussed, as a likely result of contingent events around the Zanardini’s death and Beccari’s professional troubles in Florence.