title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Botany Department, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, MRC 166 PO Box 37012, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.|Irish Seaweed Research Group, Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Jazmin J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Kantun
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, Ancona, 60131, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rindi
authors.affiliation: Botany Department, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, MRC 166 PO Box 37012, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
authors.forename: Walter H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Adey
authors.affiliation: Irish Seaweed Research Group, Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Svenja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heesch
authors.affiliation: BIOCOST Research Group, Departamento de Bioloxía Animal, Bioloxía Vexetal e Ecoloxía, Facultade de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña, Campus de A Coruña, A Coruña, 15071, Spain.|Equipe Exploration, Espèces et Evolution, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, UMR 7205 ISYEB CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Sorbonne Universités, 57 rue Cuvier CP 39, Paris, 75005, France.|Phycology Research Group, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, Building S8, Ghent, 9000, Belgium.
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Peña
authors.affiliation: Equipe Exploration, Espèces et Evolution, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, UMR 7205 ISYEB CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Sorbonne Universités, 57 rue Cuvier CP 39, Paris, 75005, France.
authors.forename: Line
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Le Gall
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Herbarium, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Coker Hall CB 3280, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599-3280, USA.
authors.forename: Paul W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Gabrielson
keywords: Lithophyllum bathyporum; Lithophyllum hibernicum; Lithophyllum incrustans; anatomy; psbA; rbcL; rhodolith; taxonomy; type specimens