title: PSEUDOCODIUM MUCRONATUM, A NEW SPECIES FROM NEW CALEDONIA, AND AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF CLIMATIC PREFERENCES IN THE GENUS (BRYOPSIDALES, CHLOROPHYTA)(1).
abstract: A new species, Pseudocodium mucronatum, is described from the Chesterfield platform off the west coast of New Caledonia. The species differs from its congeners in having mucronate utricules. A phylogenetic analysis of rbcL and tufA sequences showed that P. mucronatum is most closely associated with P. natalense De Clerck, Coppejans et Verbruggen and P. devriesii Weber Bosse, with which it shares compressed axes, depressed apices, and plastids in the utricles and the medullar siphons. We studied the evolution of climatic and ecological preferences in the genus using an interdisciplinary approach consisting of relaxed molecular clock analysis, extraction of macroecological data from satellite imagery in a geographic information system (GIS) framework, and ancestral character state estimation. It was shown that the genus originated in tropical waters during the Early Mesozoic. Whereas the P. floridanum-okinawense lineage remained tropical, the lineage including P. natalense, P. devriesii, and P. mucronatum gradually invaded more temperate waters during Cenozoic times. Except for P. devriesii, which occurs in shallow and intertidal habitats, all Pseudocodium species grow in deep-water habitats, and this ecological preference appears to be ancestral.
authors.affiliation: Unité Mixte de Recherche 7138 Systématique, Adaptation, Evolution, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Nouméa, BPA5, 98848 Nouméa cedex, New CaledoniaPhycology Research Group and Center for Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Ghent University; Krijgslaan 281, building S8, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Claude E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Payri
authors.affiliation: Unité Mixte de Recherche 7138 Systématique, Adaptation, Evolution, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Nouméa, BPA5, 98848 Nouméa cedex, New CaledoniaPhycology Research Group and Center for Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Ghent University; Krijgslaan 281, building S8, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: And Heroen
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Verbruggen
keywords: Bryopsidales; Pseudocodium mucronatum; climatic affinities; evolution; macroecology; molecular phylogenetics; morphology; taxonomy