Epizoic macroalgae collected from the skin of West Indian manatees included specimens of the red algal family Delesseriaceae. Morphological and
rbcL sequence analyses indicated that these specimens represented two novel species of
Caloglossa. One species, described here as
Caloglossa kamiyana Freshwater,
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Epizoic macroalgae collected from the skin of West Indian manatees included specimens of the red algal family Delesseriaceae. Morphological and
rbcL sequence analyses indicated that these specimens represented two novel species of
Caloglossa. One species, described here as
Caloglossa kamiyana Freshwater, Cath.E. Miller & Frankovich sp. nov., had been previously studied and recognized as part of the
C. ogasawaraensis species complex. The
rbcL sequence divergence between
C. kamiyana and other taxa within the complex ranged from 4.6–5.3%, and tetrasporangial mother cells are cut off from the lateral pericentral cells by oblique divisions instead of transverse divisions as in
C. ogasawaraensis. The second species was resolved as a closely related sister species to
C. fluviatilis, with a minimum interspecific sequence divergence of 2.0%. It was morphologically indistinguishable from
C. fluviatilis except for one potential character—mostly one, instead of multiple rhizoids, developing from rhizoid-bearing pericentral and marginal wing cells. It is herein described as
Caloglossa manaticola Freshwater, Cath.E. Miller & Frankovich sp. nov.
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