Sequencing type material resolves the identity and distribution of the generitype Lithophyllum incrustans, and related European species L. hibernicum and L. bathyporum (Corallinales, Rhodophyta)

Abstract

DNA sequences from type material in the nongeniculate coralline genus Lithophyllum were used to unambiguously link some European species names to field-collected specimens, thus providing a great advance over morpho-anatomical identifi-cation. In particular, sequence comparisons of rbcL, COI and psbA genes from field-collected specimens allowed the following conclusion: the generitype species, L. incrustans, occurs mostly as subtidal rhodoliths and crusts on both Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, and not as the common, NE Atlantic, epilithic, intertidal crust reported in the literature. The heterotypic type material of L. hibernicum was narrowed to one rhodolith belonging in Lithophyllum. As well as occurring as a subtidal rhodolith, L. hibernicum is a common, epilithic and epizoic crust in the intertidal zone from Ireland south to Mediterranean France. A set of four features distinguished L. incrustans from L. hibernicum, including epithallial cell diameter, pore canal shape of sporangial conceptacles and sporangium height and diameter. An rbcL sequence of the lectotype of Lithophyllum bathyporum, which was recently proposed to accommodate Atlantic intertidal collections of L. incrustans, corresponded to a distinct taxon hitherto known only from Brittany as the subtidal, bisporangial, lectotype, but also occurs intertidally in Atlantic Spain. Specimens from Ireland and France morpho-anatomically identified as L. fasciculatum and a specimen from Cornwall likewise identified as L. duckerae were resolved as L. incrustans and L. hibernicum, respectively.

Phymatolithon (Melobesioideae, Hapalidiales) in the Boreal–Subarctic Transition Zone of the North Atlantic

“…Thus far, we have no match in any database, including our unpublished sequences, to the sequence from the isolectotype specimen of P. lenormandii nor to the material excluded from the type of Lithophyllum hibernicum Foslie (the rhodolith lacking cup-forming terminal branches; Hernandez-Kantun et al, 2015: fig. 6A, top-right specimen), both of which belong in Phymatolithon.…”

“…These opinions were not based on a broader use of statistically characterized morpho-anatomical characters in the framework of ecological and biogeographical knowledge, with some exceptions (Lebednik, 1977;Steneck, 1982). With the advent of DNA sequencing, genera and species of the more intensively studied non-geniculate corallines, especially in Subarctic and Boreal waters in the North Atlantic, have been supported by DNA sequencing and phylogenetic reconstructions (Adey et al, 2015). This support has not proved true for many coralline genera and species in the rest of the world, where DNA sequencing is revealing a multitude of undescribed taxa (e.g., Basso et al, 2015;Hind et al, 2015Hind et al, , 2016Hernandez-Kantun et al, 2016;Peña et al, 2015a,b;Rosler et al, 2016).…”

Insights into species diversity of associated crustose coralline algae (<em>Corallinophycidae, Rhodophyta</em>) with Atlantic European maerl beds using DNA barcoding

“…The nine taxa delimited corresponded to the same four maerl-forming genera in Atlantic Europe -Lithothamnion, Phymatolithon, Mesophyllum, and Lithophyllum (Irvine & Chamberlain 1994;Hernández-Kantún & al. 2015a)-.…”

“…For the molecular analyses, publicly available COI-5P sequences for both maerl-forming and CCA taxa, particularly from Atlantic Europe, were included (Carro & al. 2014;Hernández-Kantún & al. 2015a), as well as a sequence of Corallina officinalis L. as outgroup (Pardo & al.…”

At the intersection of cultural and natural heritage: Distribution and conservation of the type localities of Italian endemic vascular plants

“…Furthermore, type populations are of fundamental importance in theoretical and applied taxonomy and biodiversity conservation (e.g., Hernandez-Kantun et al, 2015;Larridon et al, 2014). Many taxonomic conclusions can be drawn directly from the study of type specimens (the specimens to which scientific names are attached, usually exsiccata, i.e., dried plant specimens), but this is often not satisfactory.…”