Australian Laurencia majuscula (Rhodophyta, Rhodomelaceae) and the Brazilian Laurencia dendroidea are conspecific

Morphological and molecular studies have been undertaken on two species of the red algal genus LaurenciaJ.V.Lamouroux: Laurencia majuscula (Harvey) A.H.S. Lucas and Laurencia dendroideaJ.Agardh, both from their type localities. The phylogenetic position of these species was inferred by analysis of the chloroplast-encoded rbcL gene sequences from 24 taxa. In all phylogenetic analyses, the Australian Laurencia majuscula and the Brazilian L.dendroidea formed a well-supported monophyletic clade within the Laurencia sensu stricto. This clade was divided into two subclades corresponding to each geographical region; however, the genetic divergence between Australian L.majuscula and Brazilian L.dendroidea was only 01.35%. Examination of the type specimens and sequences of freshly collected samples of both Laurencia majuscula and L.dendroidea show the two to be conspecific despite their disjunct type localities.