A re-evaluation of subtidal Lithophyllum species (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) from North Carolina, USA, and the proposal of L. searlesii sp. nov.

Abstract:

The current identification of crustose coralline algae from North Carolina is based on a few morphoanatomical studies from the last century. We reassessed the type specimens of the two Lithophyllum species historically reported from offshore communities in North Carolina, L. intermedium with a Caribbean Sea type locality and L. subtenellum with an Atlantic southern France type locality, using scanning electron microscopy images and diagnostic rbcL sequences. Neither of the sequences generated from the type specimens matched rbcL sequences from contemporary specimens collected from subtidal North Carolina epibenthic communities. On the basis of analyses of rbcL and other loci (psbA, UPA, and COI), we instead found L. atlanticum, recently described from Brazil, and L. searlesii sp. nov. from Onslow Bay, North Carolina. These sequence data show that L. atlanticum is related to northeast Pacific species, whereas L. searlesii is related to Mediterranean species.

Key Words::

• Hard bottom
• Lithophyllum atlanticum
• Lithophyllum intermedium
• Lithophyllum subtenellum
• psbA
• rbcL
• Subtidal
• Systematics
• UPA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are very grateful to Dr Kristian Hassel, curator at TRH, for the loan of type material that is critical to the application of coralline names. The authors thank Dr Talita Vieira-Pinto for providing DNA sequences of Brazilian specimens, and Dr Gavin Maneveldt and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. JLR acknowledges Dr Tom Pesacreta and Mike Purpera at the University of Louisiana Lafayette Microscopy Center for help and advice while using the SEM. PWG thanks Dr Todd Vision, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill for use of lab space and equipment. DNA extraction and sequencing performed by JRH and PWG were funded by a private family trust (PWG). North Carolina field collections were made possible by support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration, the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Coastal Oceans Research & Monitoring Program, a Center for Marine Science (CMS) Pilot Project, and the CMS DNA-Algal Trust.

SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found online at http://dx.doi.org/10.2216/17-110.1.s1.