Morphological variation in Northwest Pacific Devaleraea mollis and description of D. inkyuleei sp. nov. (Palmariaceae, Rhodophyta)

We assessed the range of morphological variation in Devaleraea mollis from the Northwest Pacific. Genetic analyses based on the 5' end of the genes coding for cytochrome c oxidase I (COI-5'), cytochrome oxidase b (cob) and photosystem I reaction centre apoprotein A1 (psaA), as well as the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS) fragment of rDNA, revealed that the morphospecies D. mollis includes two species. The alga from Japan previously identified as 'Palmaria palmata' resolved as sister to D. stenogona and is here described as D. inkyuleei sp. nov. The species is morphologically similar to D. mollis, but it has a more southern range. Devaleraea inkyuleei is only known from Japan (Honshu and Hokkaido) and from Aniva Bay (Sakhalin Island, Russia).

Automated summary

In this study, we assessed the morphological variation of Devaleraea mollis from the Northwest Pacific and found that it actually includes two species. The alga previously identified as 'Palmaria palmata' is now described as a new species, D. inkyuleei, which is morphologically similar to D. mollis but has a more southern range.