Two new species of Callophyllis (Rhodophyta, Kallymeniaceae) from the Russian Pacific coast

Abstract

ABSTRACT Seven species of Callophyllis have been known off the Pacific coast of Russia; hovewer, molecular data have been obtained only for three species. In this study we re-examined the genus along the Russian Pacific coast using a comparative morphological study and molecular analyses based on rbcL and nrLSU. Five genetic species were identified on the Russian coast based on phylogenetics and species delimitation (ASAP and p-distance) analyses; while C. beringensis, C. papulosa and C. platyna were outscore of the analyses. The results of the molecular analyses uncovered one undescribed species, which we named C. selivanovae sp. nov. The divergence between this species and other species of the genus varied from 1.16% to 5.66%, while intraspecific divergence in the genus was in a range of 0.00%–0.22%. In phylogenetic trees C. selivanovae was recognized as sister to a diverse clade including C. thompsonii, C. beringensis, C. violacea, C. flabellulata and C. variegata from the Pacific coast of Canada. Callophyllis selivanovae from the southeastern coast of Kamchatka is morphologically close to C. beringensis, described from St. Paul Island (Bering Sea); the two species differ in features of branching, shape and size of the terminal branches. We propose a new name, C. perestenkoae sp. nov., for the algae previously listed in the Russian flora as ‘C. flabellata’. Pacific specimens assigned to C. perestenkoae differ from C. flabellata from the type locality (Atlantic, France) in having irregular branching, thicker apical branches, and smaller cystocarps. We also filled in the gaps in the description of C. radula for which procarp and tetrasporangia are described herein for the first time.