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Drachiella liaoii sp. nov., a new member of the Schizoserideae (Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta) from Taiwan and the Philippines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2002

SHOWE-MEI LIN
Affiliation:
National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, 2 Houwan Road, Checheng, Pingtung 944, Taiwan, ROC
JANE E. LEWIS
Affiliation:
Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan, ROC
SUZANNE FREDERICQ
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 7504-2451, USA
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Abstract

A new member of Delesseriaceae (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) is described from Southern Taiwan and the Philippines. On the basis of comparative vegetative and reproductive morphology, and phylogenetic analysis inferred from nuclear-encoded large-subunit ribosomal DNA sequences (LSU rDNA), we conclude that it belongs in the genus Drachiella, tribe Schizoserideae, subfamily Phycodryoideae. The new taxon shares with other Drachiella species the absence of macro- and microscopic veins; diffuse growth by marginal and intercalary meristematic cells; a polystromatic, lobed thallus; abundance of rhizoidal marginal proliferations used for attachment; convoluted plastids in surface cells; abundant secondary pit connections among adjacent vegetative cells; large intercellular spaces between surface cells; procarps confined to the upper side of the thallus, circular in outline, consisting of a supporting cell bearing a strongly curved carpogonial branch and two sterile groups that remain undivided; vertical division of gonimoblast initial from auxiliary cell, and unilateral, monopodial branching of gonimoblasts; and mature cystocarps with a massive candelabrum-like fusion cell of fused gonimoblasts bearing carposporangia in branched chains. It is distinguished from the other members of the genus by thalli that consist of extensive tangled mats of prostrate and overlapping decumbent blades, procarps confined to the upper side of the thallus, and the lack of basal stalks or stipes. Whereas the Schizoserideae is predominantly a Southern Ocean tribe, one of the tribe's four genera, Drachiella, was known only from the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. We herein report the first record of the genus for the Indo-Pacific Ocean, and describe Drachiella liaoii, sp. nov., as a fourth species in the genus.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2002 British Phycological Society

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