Reassessment of Tristan da Cunha Gelidium (Gelidiales, Rhodophyta) species
AbstractThree endemic species of Gelidium have been described from the remote Tristan da Cunha archipelago. A recent barcode survey of Tristan da Cunha red algae in combination with the clarification of vouchers for previously sequenced specimens has prompted a molecular and morphological reassessment of these species. Analyses of rbcL and COI-5P data indicated that all sequenced Tristan da Cunha specimens represented a single taxon, and furthermore that this genetic group was conspecific with Gelidium micropterum from southern Africa. Morphologically the Tristan da Cunha specimens represented either Gelidium concinnum or Gelidium regulare, and there was a grade of character states between both of these species, as well as G. micropterum. Based on these results the synonymy of G. concinnum and G. regulare under G. micropterum is proposed and an expanded description of G. micropterum provided. None of the studied Tristan da Cunha specimens clearly fit the description of the third endemic species, Gelidium inflexum, and its status could not be determined.