Study of the phylogeny and distribution of Pterocladiella (Pterocladiaceae, Rhodophyta) from China

Ancient Tethyan Vicariance and Long-Distance Dispersal Drive Global Diversification and Cryptic Speciation in the Red Seaweed Pterocladiella

“…Our result supports that the widespread species have experienced sufficient amount of gene flow to maintain species cohesion in haplotype analysis ( Figure 4 ). This is supported by previous studies on those species from Brazil, China, and Madagascar ( Boo et al, 2016b ; Iha et al, 2017 ; Wang et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Our intensive and spatially comprehensive collection of specimens, including many that are tiny and inconspicuous, was critical to the discovery of these cryptic or overlooked species. These results are particularly notable because they nearly double the species number in Pterocladiella , despite numerous previous taxonomic studies ( Shimada et al, 2000 ; Santelices, 2007 ; Tronchin and Freshwater, 2007 ; Freshwater et al, 2010 ; Sohrabipour et al, 2013 ; Boo et al, 2016a , 2016b , 2017 ; Iha et al, 2017 ; Wang et al, 2020 ). Simple morphology and rare occurrence of sexual reproductive structures ( Boo et al, 2010 ; Patarra et al, 2020 ), both of which reduce the number of morphological characters, plus a high degree of phenotypic plasticity, have hindered the discriminating power of traditional taxonomy of Pterocladiella .…”

“…; Guiry and Guiry, 2022 ) may also belong to different species. In contrast, P. capillacea has been reported to occur globally ( Freshwater et al, 1995 ; Shimada et al, 2000 ; Boo et al, 2010 ; Iha et al, 2017 ; Wang et al, 2020 ). These studies have raised a number of important questions at the heart of our study of the global and temporal diversification of Pterocladiella : are allegedly widespread species actually composed of multiple species with narrow ranges, and do broadly distributed species maintain genetic connectivity over global distances?…”

“…Pterocladiella was established on the basis of four species, previously placed in the genus Pterocladia J.Agardh; the generitype is P. capillacea (S.G.Gmelin) Santelices & Hommersand ( Santelices and Hommersand, 1997 ). To date, 24 species have been described, many using morphological characters in combination with molecular markers ( Shimada et al, 2000 ; Thomas and Freshwater, 2001 ; Tronchin and Freshwater, 2007 ; Freshwater et al, 2010 ; Sohrabipour et al, 2013 ; Boo and Geraldino, 2016 ; Boo et al, 2016a , 2016b , 2017 ; Iha et al, 2017 ; Wang et al, 2020 ). Boo et al (2017) found that P. caloglossoides (M.Howe) Santelices from Peru, the type locality, was distantly related to the Australian taxa identified by Millar and Freshwater (2005) , indicating that specimens from other regions (e.g., China, Hawai’i, etc.…”

A New Species from the Canary Islands Increases the Diversity of the Red Algal Genus Pterocladiella in the Northeastern Atlantic

“…In addition to the type species, Pterocladiella capillacea (Gmelin) Santelices and Hommersand, three other species were assigned to the new genus supported by both morphological and molecular evidence [ 5 , 6 ]. Subsequent studies led to the transfer of a total of ten species initially assigned to Pterocladia within Pterocladiella [ 7 , 8 , 9 ], and uncovered an ensemble of new species based on molecular and morphological datasets, mainly among small taxa with relatively simple morphologies growing in dense turf-like communities [ 1 , 2 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Currently, a total of 25 species with warm-temperate to tropical distributions are accepted in Pterocladiella [ 18 ].…”