Leptophytum flavescens comb. nov. (Corallinales, Rhodophyta), an Arctic endemic from the sublittoral of NW Spitsbergen, North Norway, and western Novaya Zemlya, with epitypification of L. laeve

ABSTRACT

Type material of Lithothamnion flavescens Kjellman, originally described from Karlsøy (Troms) and Karmakul Bay (Novaya Zemlya), is re-examined and a lectotype is selected. Type specimens and other collections from NW Spitsbergen and North Norway possess distinctive characters of the genus Leptophytum, including the development of flattened epithallial cells, short subepithallial cells, and simple spermatangial structures. Leptophytum flavescens (Kjellman) comb. nov. resembles the generitype Leptophytum laeve, differing in having: (1) a thicker perithallium, to 900 µm (vs. 350 µm in L. laeve), that embeds older conceptacles, and (2) non-differentiated (in size or shape) pore cells of multiporate roofs. An epitype for L. laeve is also selected, which consolidates the status of this species and the genus, in agreement with the current literature and all publications prior to 1996.

RESPONSIBLE EDITOR:

• Franz Uiblein

KEYWORDS:

• Anatomy
• morphology
• taxonomy
• epitypification

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the keepers of the herbaria S, TRH and UPS for generous loans of collections, including type specimens. Financial support for the laboratory work was provided through a grant from the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg. Several reviewers made helpful comments for improving the text.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.