Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny of Psilothallia dentata (Ceramiaceae, Rhodophyta)

Psilothallia is a ceramiaceous red algal. genus that includes three species worldwide: P. dentate, P. siliculosa, and P. striate. The latter two species are limited to Australian waters, and P. dentate occurs in Japan. We here report the detailed morphology of P. dentate, and also determined plastid protein-coding psbA in P. dentate and putative relatives. Psilothallia dentate is distinguished by compressed thalli with alternate-distichous determinate branchlets, six periaxial cells, rhizoidal filaments in axes, cystocarps with 7-8 involucral filaments, spermatangia on branched filaments, and tetrahedrally divided tetrasporangia on branched filaments. Psilothallia dentate is also unusual in that cystocarps, spermatangial clusters, and tetrasporangial tufts are formed on short adventitious indeterminate branches arising on axils of determinate branchlets. The phylogenetic trees of psbA sequences show that P. dentata was nested in a monophyletic Glade comprising Ptilota, Neoptilota, and Plumaria. This result suggests that the taxonomic position of P. dentate may be transferred from the tribe Rhodocallideae to the Ptiloteae.