A molecular-assisted alpha taxonomic study of the genus Centroceras (Ceramiaceae, Rhodophyta) in Bermuda reveals two novel species

doi:2015.30.1.15

Algae > Volume 30(1); 2015 > Article

Algae 2015;30(1): 15-33. doi: https://doi.org/10.4490/algae.2015.30.1.015

Craig W. Schneider¹^,*, Elisabeth N. Cianciola¹, Thea R. Popolizio², Dylan S. Spagnuolo¹ and Christopher E. Lane²

¹Department of Biology, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 06106, USA
²Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA

*Corresponding Author

Email: cschneid@trincoll.edu

ABSTRACT

When the generitype Centroceras clavulatum, a presumed cosmopolitan warm temperate to tropical red alga, was discovered to have a biogeographic distribution limited to the Pacific Ocean using molecular and morphological evidence, the taxonomy in the genus Centroceras was thrown into chaos worldwide. An analysis of what species was, or were, previously identified as C. clavulatum in Bermuda is the focus of the present molecular (COI-5P, rbcL) and morphological study. Two novel species are proposed, C. arcii sp. nov. and C. illaqueans sp. nov., and the distributions of three taxa recently segregated in the ‘C. clavulatum complex’ of the western Atlantic, C. gasparrinii, C. hyalacanthum, and C. micracanthum, have been expanded to include Bermuda. C. arcii is shown to be morphologically cryptic with C. micracanthum, and remains best distinguished by its COI-5P barcode sequence.

Key words: Bermuda; Centroceras spp.; C. arcii sp. nov.; C. illaqueans sp. nov.; Ceramiaceae; COI-5P; rbcL; Rhodophyta