TWO TYPES OF AUXILIARY CELL AMPULLAE IN GRATELOUPIA (HALYMENIACEAE, RHODOPHYTA), INCLUDING G.TAIWANENSIS SP. NOV. AND G.ORIENTALIS SP. NOV. FROM TAIWAN BASED ON rbcL GENE SEQUENCE ANALYSIS AND CYSTOCARP DEVELOPMENT(1).

Abstract

Few species in the genus Grateloupia have been investigated in detail with respect to the development of the auxiliary cell ampullae before or after diploidization. In this study, we document the vegetative and reproductive structures of two new species of Grateloupia, G.taiwanensis S.-M. Lin et H.-Y. Liang sp. nov. and G.orientalis S.-M. Lin et H.-Y. Liang sp. nov., plus a third species, G.ramosissima Okamura, from Taiwan. Two distinct patterns are reported for the development of the auxiliary cell ampullae: (1) ampullae consisting of three orders of unbranched filaments that branch after diploidization of the auxiliary cell and form a pericarp together with the surrounding secondary medullary filaments (G.taiwanensis type), and (2) ampullae composed of only two orders of unbranched filaments in which only a few cells are incorporated into a basal fusion cell after diploization of the auxiliary cell and the pericarp consists almost entirely of secondary medullary filaments (G.orientalis type). G.orientalis is positioned in a large clade based on rbcL gene sequence analysis that includes the type species of Grateloupia C. Agardh 1822, G.filicina. G. taiwanensis clusters with a clade that includes the generitype of Phyllymenia J. Agardh 1848, Ph.belangeri from South Africa; that of Prionitis J. Agardh 1851, Pr.lanceolata from Pacific North America; and that of Pachymeniopsis Y. Yamada ex Kawab. 1954, Pa.lanceolata from Japan. A reexamination of the type species of the genera Grateloupia, Phyllymenia, Prionitis, and Pachymeniopsis is required to clarify the generic and interspecific relationships among the species presently placed in Grateloupia.