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ABSTRACT
Non-geniculate coralline algal specimens were collected in 2013 during the XXVIII Italian Expedition to Antarctica in Adélie Cove (Terra Nova Bay; Ross Sea) and deposited in the collections of the Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNAIT, Section of Genoa). Specimens were characterized through a polyphasic approach combining DNA sequence data obtained for four genes (psbA, rbcL, 18S rDNA and cox1) with morpho-anatomical observations. DNA sequences revealed that all specimens belonged to the same species. Phylogenetic reconstructions unambiguously recovered this alga as a member of the order Hapalidiales, but without any close relationship to a genus of this order currently recognized on a molecular phylogenetic basis. Instead, it formed a well-supported lineage with specimens named ‘Hapalidiales sp. ZH-Twist-2019’, collected in New Zealand, for which no formal assignment at genus level has been proposed. Species delimitation methods (ABGD, PTP, GMYC) applied to the psbA dataset indicated that the Adélie Cove coralline alga is a distinct species from all other known hapalidialean species for which such sequences are available. A new genus, Thalassolithon gen. nov., is proposed for T. adeliense sp. nov.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers and the Associate Editor Gavin W. Maneveldt for valuable comments that helped considerably to improve the manuscript. We wish to thank Dr. Federico Zorzi (CEASC, Center for Analyses and Certification Services, University of Padova) for his assistance with the SEM-EDS analysis.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00318884.2022.2147745