Peleophycus multiprocarpium gen. et sp. nov. (Gloiosiphoniaceae, Rhodophyta)

Abstract

Peleophycus multiprocarpium is described as a genus and species new to the red algal family Gloiosiphoniaceae (Cryptonemiales), in which a given supporting cell may bear one or more carpogonial branches and one to several auxiliary cell branches. Though several gonimoblasts could thus be formed on the same supporting cell, this condition has not been observed. Nonetheless it suggests a possible phylogenetic pathway from less complicated to more complex relationships of reproductive branches. In its structure of reproductive organs, Peleophycus seems most closely related to Gloeophycus, described from Korea and northwestern Japan. Peleophycus is one of several new genera and species that occurred in an unexpected subtidal (ca. 10-12 m depth) spring marine flora in the subtropics off Hawaii.