Dasya hispida sp. nov. (Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta) from Puerto Rico and Grenada, Caribbean Sea

Abstract

A new subtidal species of Dasya is reported from offshore algal plains of Puerto Rico and Grenada in the Caribbean. Closely invested with pigmented lateral branchlets giving the alga a shaggy appearance, the species bears close resemblance and genetic affinity to the Bermudian Dasya cryptica and a superficial resemblance to Pacific D. anastomosans. The new species differs from all known Atlantic congeners as well as non-Atlantic members of the “Dasya cryptica complex” both genetically and in possessing rhizoids among its pericentral and enlarged inner cortical cells.