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Gracilaria microcarpa sp. nov. (Gracilariaceae, Rhodophyta) from the southwestern Gulf of Mexico

  • Kurt M. Dreckmann

    Kurt M. Dreckmann is interested in phylogenetics and biogeography of marine macroalgae. He is a professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, where he received his PhD degree.

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    , María Luisa Núñez Resendiz

    María Luisa Núñez Resendiz received her PhD degree at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. Currently, she is doing a postdoctoral stay at the Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she is working on molecular and morphological characterization of red algae with economic importance from the Yucatan Peninsula.

    and Abel Sentíes

    Abel Sentíes is currently a professor-researcher of marine botany at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. He has spent over 30 years at the Marine Macroalgal Laboratory, focusing his research on systematics, biogeography and conservation of seaweeds of Pacific Mexico, and the tropical and subtropical Western Atlantic.

Published/Copyright: March 21, 2018

Abstract

Although the genus Gracilaria is well represented on the Mexican coasts, there are few studies focused on the taxonomic aspects and the clarification of the relationships between species. The high morphological plasticity exhibited by several of its representatives could underestimate the true species richness. In the present study, a group of cylindrical specimens of Gracilaria from the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, previously identified as G. cornea, was collected. Based on COI-5P and rbcL sequences, these samples formed an independent group closely related to G. ferox, a flat species. Morphologically, our specimens differed from G. ferox and the other species of Gracilaria by the presence of very small cystocarps and a thick pericarp composed of many layers of cells. We propose Gracilaria microcarpa sp. nov. as the name for this group of cylindrical specimens from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.

About the authors

Kurt M. Dreckmann

Kurt M. Dreckmann is interested in phylogenetics and biogeography of marine macroalgae. He is a professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, where he received his PhD degree.

María Luisa Núñez Resendiz

María Luisa Núñez Resendiz received her PhD degree at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. Currently, she is doing a postdoctoral stay at the Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she is working on molecular and morphological characterization of red algae with economic importance from the Yucatan Peninsula.

Abel Sentíes

Abel Sentíes is currently a professor-researcher of marine botany at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. He has spent over 30 years at the Marine Macroalgal Laboratory, focusing his research on systematics, biogeography and conservation of seaweeds of Pacific Mexico, and the tropical and subtropical Western Atlantic.

Acknowledgements

We thank anonymous reviewers of an earlier version of this paper for their valuable comments. We would like to thank Michael J. Wynne (University of Michigan) for his critical review of the English of this manuscript. KM and AS thank for the support of the projects: (UAMI-CBS2015-2018: 15.14-131014 and UAMI-CA-117, PRODEP).

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Supplemental Material:

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/bot-2017-0068).


Received: 2017-9-7
Accepted: 2018-2-15
Published Online: 2018-3-21
Published in Print: 2018-3-28

©2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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