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Mastocarpus Taxonomy

Kingdom: Protista, Phylum: Rhodophyta, Class: Rhodophyceae,

Order: Gigartinales, Family: Petrocelidaceae, Genus: Mastocarpus

Local species: M. papillatus and M. jardinii

Mastocarpus was reclassified into the family Petrocelidaceae from Gigartinaceae because it was found that the crustose alga Petrocelis is actually the tetrasporophyte stage of Mastocarpus. Before then, the genus was Gigartina, and it was lumped into the Gigartinales with Chondrocanthus, the Turkish towel. Mastocarpus is still known as the little Turkish towel.