Abstract
Pigmented pseudocolonies initially identified as Polykrikos hartmannii Zimmermann were detected at several locations of the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean Sea) in April-June of 2012 and April-May of 2013. To further explore the several remarkable morphological discrepancies between these organisms and P. hartmannii, we carried out a detailed morphological study and used single-cell PCR to obtain partial LSU and SSU rDNA sequences. The resulting phylogenies showed that our isolates occupy a basal position within the Polykrikos clade, close to P. hartmannii, but do not correspond to any described polykrikoid species. P. barnegatensis Martin is controversially considered to be synonymous with P. hartmannii. The organisms studied in this work were similar to P. barnegatensis but showed significant morphological differences with its original description such as the torsion of the pseudocolony, more pronounced overhanging of the cingula, stepped fusion border of the zooids, and number and shape of nuclei. Consequently, we propose that the isolates constitute a new species, which we named Polykrikos tanit sp. nov. The observed characters, pigmented, same number of zooids and nuclei, sulci not fused, and its phylogeny suggest that the species is an early evolutionary Polykrikos species.
Highlights
The polykrikoid organisms are included within the Gymnodiniales sensu stricto clade (Hoppenrath and Leander 2007a, b; Kim et al 2008) and are grouped within two genera: Polykrikos, erected by Bütschli (1873), and Pheopolykrikos, erected by Chatton
We show that our isolates belong to a new species, which we have named Polykrikos tanit sp. nov
Studies of a large number of pseudocolonies of P. tanit distinguished two morphologies, probably related to "fed" vs. “starved” states, but only pseudocolonies consisting of two zooids were observed, albeit they were able to dissociate
Summary
The polykrikoid organisms are included within the Gymnodiniales sensu stricto clade (Hoppenrath and Leander 2007a, b; Kim et al 2008) and are grouped within two genera: Polykrikos, erected by Bütschli (1873), and Pheopolykrikos, erected by Chatton (1933) and later emended by Matsuoka and Fukuyo (1986). Both genera comprise unarmoured multinucleated pseudocolonial organisms and autotrophic as well as heterotrophic species are known.
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