New records of Gelidiella pannosa, Pterocladiella caerulescens and Pterocladiella caloglossoides (Rhodophyta, Gelidiales) from Japan

Abstract

SUMMARY Three gelidialean species, Gelidiella pannosa (Feld-mann) Feldmann et Hamel, Pterocladiella caerulescens (Kutzing) Santelices et Hommersand and Pterocladiella caloglossoides (Howe) Santelices, are newly reported from Japan, and their characteristic features are described. Monoecious plants of P. caerulescens produce spermatangial sori on: (i) fertile cystocarpic branchlets; (ii) special spermatangial branchlets on a cystocarpic axis; and (iii) branchlets of a special spermatangial axis. The latter two are newly reported in this species. Gelidiella pannosa has numerous unicellular independent points of attachment, whereas P. caerulescens and P. caloglossoides have the peg type of secondary rhizoidal anchorage. In the molecular phylogenetic study using small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences, G. pannosa is included in the Gelidiella clade with 100% bootstrap support in neighbor-joining (NJ) analysis and 99% in maximum parsimony (MP) analysis. Pterocladiella caerulescens and P. caloglossoides are included in the Pterocladiella clade with 99.7% bootstrap support in NJ analysis and 100% in MP analysis. Each type of secondary rhizoidal attachment is completely consistent with the respective genus clade, which suggests that this morphological characteristic reflects phylogeny within the order Gelidiales.