New records of rhodolith-forming species (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) from deep water in Espírito Santo State, Brazil

Abstract

Little is known about the diversity of nongeniculate coralline red algae (Rhodophyta, Corallinophycidae) from deep waters in Brazil. Most surveys undertaken in this country have been carried out in shallow waters. In 1994, however, the REVIZEE program surveyed the sustainable living resources potential of the Brazilian exclusive economic zone to depths of 500 m. In the present study, the rhodolith-forming coralline algae from the continental shelf of Espírito Santo State were identified. Samples were taken from 54 to 60 m depth by dredging during ship cruises in 1997. Three rhodolith-forming species were found: Spongites yendoi (Foslie) Chamberlain, Lithothamnion muelleri Lenormand ex Rosanoff and Lithothamnion glaciale Kjellman. These records extend the distribution ranges of these species into Brazilian waters and extend the depth distribution of non-geniculate coralline red algae into Brazilian water to 58 m.

Range extension and morphological characterization of rhodolith-forming species (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) from shallow water in the Mexican South Pacific

“…Nevertheless, the morphology is distinct from specimens living in the Atlantic and Southern Australia, which presents a crustose to warty morphology (Woelkerling 1996;Henriques et al 2011). With regard to the vegetative and reproductive characters evaluated in the thallus (Table 1), most agree with reports on the same species from the Gulf of California, Nicaragua, Southern Australia and Brazil (Woelkerling 1996;Henriques et al 2011;Robinson et al 2013). According to Robinson et al (2013), L. muelleri occurs along the Eastern Pacific ocean from Washington (USA) to Costa Rica.…”

Lithothamnion steneckii sp. nov. and Pneophyllum conicum: new coralline red algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) for coral reefs of Brazil

“…The pore canal is limited with small filaments that projected as papillae into the pore canal. The fusion cell is discoid and curved upwards Hauk (Basso et al 2011) or represents a range extension (Henriques et al 2012). There are a group of features reliable to delimit species within the genus.…”

“…The characteristics used to determine the species (e.g., Wilks and Woelkerling 1995, Harvey et al 2003, Woelkerling et al 2005, Wynne 2005, Da Nóbrega Farias et al 2010, Athanasiadis and Ballantine 2011, Basso et al 2011, Table 1 in Henriques et al 2012), do not allow our material of Lithothamnion to be assigned to any known species. Nonetheless, Lithothamnion muelleri Lenormand ex Rosanoff and L. crispatum known for Brazilian shores are discussed here for comparative purposes to delimit our new species.…”

“…shown that Brazilian coralline flora is more diverse than was previously considered (e.g., Villas-Boas et al 2009, Da Nóbrega Farias et al 2010, Bahia et al 2011, Horta et al 2011, Henriques et al 2012). Furthermore, most ecological studies were not carried out using rigorous taxonomic evaluation.…”

Three deep water species of Sporolithon (Sporolithales, Rhodophyta) from the Brazilian continental shelf, with the description of Sporolithon elevatum sp. nov.

“…At that time it was not possible to identify the coralline red algae because of lack of taxonomic expertise and support, so the samples were stored in the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro. Some species of the genus Spongites Kützing (1841: 30) and Lithothamnion Heydrich, (1897: 412) have been studied (Henriques et al 2012) and the present work is focused in the genus Sporolithon. Two more similar collection were carried out along the Rio de Janeiro state outer shelf, in October of 2010 and November of 2011.…”