DNA Sequence Analyses Reveal Two New Species of Caloglossa (Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta) from the Skin of West Indian Manatees

D Wilson Freshwater,Michael J Wynne,Cathryn E Miller,Thomas A Frankovich

doi:10.3390/jmse9020163

Abstract

Epizoic macroalgae collected from the skin of West Indian manatees included specimens of the red algal family Delesseriaceae. Morphological and rbcL sequence analyses indicated that these specimens represented two novel species of Caloglossa. One species, described here as Caloglossa kamiyana Freshwater, Cath.E. Miller & Frankovich sp. nov., had been previously studied and recognized as part of the C. ogasawaraensis species complex. The rbcL sequence divergence between C. kamiyana and other taxa within the complex ranged from 4.6–5.3%, and tetrasporangial mother cells are cut off from the lateral pericentral cells by oblique divisions instead of transverse divisions as in C. ogasawaraensis. The second species was resolved as a closely related sister species to C. fluviatilis, with a minimum interspecific sequence divergence of 2.0%. It was morphologically indistinguishable from C. fluviatilis except for one potential character—mostly one, instead of multiple rhizoids, developing from rhizoid-bearing pericentral and marginal wing cells. It is herein described as Caloglossa manaticola Freshwater, Cath.E. Miller & Frankovich sp. nov.

Highlights

Charismatic marine megafauna are generally unrecognized substrates for sessile invertebrates and algae
Trees that resulted from maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses were closely congruent, and only the maximum likelihood tree is presented here (Figure 1)
Manatee Caloglossa sample RR was positioned within a fully-supported clade of specimens that were identified as Caloglossa ogasawaraensis

Summary

Introduction

Charismatic marine megafauna are generally unrecognized substrates for sessile invertebrates and algae. Studies of epizoic macroalgae on marine megafauna have been almost exclusively restricted to those growing on sea turtles [16,17], but a novel red algal species, Melanothamnus maniticola Woodworth, Frankovich & Freshwater, has been described from West Indian manatees [18]. This species, visible in many West Indian manatee images, is believed to be obligately epizoic and to have evolved a unique holdfast system specific for manatee skin. DNA sequence analyses of these specimens revealed that they represented two novel species of Caloglossa that are described

Materials and Methods

Molecular Analyses

52 Caloglossa specimen rbcL sequences and outgroup

Morphological Analyses

New Species

Discussion