Description of six new cyanobacterial species from soil biocrusts on San Nicolas Island, California, in three genera previously restricted to Brazil

As the taxonomic knowledge of cyanobacteria from terrestrial environments increases, it remains important to analyze biodiversity in areas that have been understudied to fully understand global and endemic diversity. This study was completed as part of a larger algal biodiversity study of the soil biocrusts of San Nicholas Island, California, USA. Among the taxa isolated were several new species in three genera (Atlanticothrix, Pycnacronema, and Konicacronema) which were described from, and previously restricted to, Brazil. New taxa are described herein using a polyphasic approach to cyanobacterial taxonomy that considers morphological, molecular, ecological, and biogeographical factors. Morphological data corroborated by molecular analysis including sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, and the associated 16S-23S ITS rRNA region was used to delineate three new species of Atlanticothrix, two species of Pycnacronema, and one species of Konicacronema. The overlap of genera from San Nicolas Island and Brazil suggests that cyanobacterial genera may be widely distributed across global hemispheres, whereas the presence of distinct lineages may indicate that this is not true at the species level. Our data suggest that based upon global wind patterns, cyanobacteria in both Northern and Southern hemispheres of the Americas may have a more recent common ancestor in Northern Africa, but this common ancestry is distant enough that speciation has occurred since transatlantic dispersal.

Automated summary

As the taxonomic knowledge of cyanobacteria from terrestrial environments increases, it is important to analyze biodiversity in understudied areas. This study describes several new species in three genera and suggests that cyanobacterial genera may be widely distributed across global hemispheres, while distinct lineages exist at the species level.