• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.145-155
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• 2020

Specimens of red algae corresponding to the peyssonnelioid genus Sonderophycus were collected at Kure Atoll, Hawai'i, at a depth range of 88-94 m depth during mesophotic surveys of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Hawaiian Islands, and were analyzed using morphological and molecular approaches. Analyses of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 and chloroplast rbcL DNA sequences demonstrated that the Hawaiian specimens were identical to one another yet distinct from the three other species currently recognized within the genus (S. capensis [Montagne] M. J. Wynne, S. coriaceus [Womersley & Sinkora] M. J. Wynne, and S. fervens Dixon), as well as the likely congener, Peyssonnelia caulifera Okamura, and are proposed here as a new species: Sonderophycus copusii A. R. Sherwood. Sonderophycus copusii is morphologically distinct from other members of the genus by the following combination of characters: the presence of occasional secondary perithallial growth, emergence of rhizoids from the hypobasal cuticle at a strongly acute angle, a lack of horizontally directed filaments in the lower perithallus, and the lack of a stipe. This is the first record of the genus Sonderophycus in the Hawaiian Islands. Sonderophycus copusii was documented as a dominant member of the algal community at Kure Atoll, and thus may play a significant ecological role in the deep-water benthic community of Kure Atoll, along the lines of reports of deep water peyssonnelioid beds in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Caribbean. This study further highlights the unexplored diversity of the Peyssonneliales in Hawai'i, and emphasizes more generally the degree of as yet undiscovered biodiversity of algae at mesophotic depths.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.345-353
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• 2017

Detailed morphological studies and molecular analyses based on plastid-encoded rbcL gene sequences were undertaken on Peyssonnelia species, a poorly known genus from Korea. We report new records for the Korean coast, Peyssonnelia harveyana and P. rumoiana. Peyssonnelia harveyana is chiefly characterized by P. rubra-type anatomy, closely packed perithallial filaments in firm matrix, hypothallial filaments arranged in parallel rows, thalli with appressed margins, hypobasal calcification, and unicellular rhizoids. Peyssonnelia rumoiana is principally characterized by two vegetative features, hypothallial filaments arranged in a polyflabellate layer, and perithallial filaments arising from the whole upper surface of each hypothallial cell (Peyssonnelia rubra-type anatomy). Our rbcL analyses revealed that P. harveynana and P. rumoiana were placed within a clade of Peyssonnelia. We also propose the new combination, Sonderophycus cauliferus comb. nov., for previous Peyssonnelia caulifera. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that our S. cauliferus was placed within a clade of Sonderophycus.