In kyu Lee alga (Aglaothamnion inkyui) from Korea closely related to Aglaothamnion pseudobyssoides

NEWS - Researchers collected red algae from the east coast of Korea and phylogenetic analysis using rbcL sequences and two DNA-based species delimitation analyses revealed the specimens to be a new species, In kyu Lee alga (Aglaothamnion inkyui E.Shim & G.H.Kim sp. nov), which is closely related to A. pseudobyssoides.

Aglaothamnion was assigned by Feldmann-Mazoyer (1941) to species previously placed in the genus Callithamnion, with the type species A. furcellariae (J.Agardh) Feldmann-Mazoyer (1941: 454), which was later synonymized with A. tenuissimum (Bonnemaison) Feldmann-Mazoyer (1941; 469).

Currently 35 Aglaothamnion names are accepted and 3 of them are recorded from Korea: A. callophyllidicola (Yamada) Boo, I.K.Lee, Rueness & Yoshida (1991), A. chejuense (G.H.Kim & I.K.Lee) and A. oosumiense Itono (1971). Now Eunyoung Shim and Gwang Hoon Kim from Kongju National University in Gongju and colleagues examine the new collection as a new species of red alga.

A. inkyui has a thallus is uniseriate, thin, up to 4 cm high, attached at the base by multicellular rhizoids. No reproductive structures were seen. Branching is dichotomously alternate, sometimes branches appear at irregular intervals at the bottom of the axial cells.

Freshly collected thalli are reddish in color with a light brown hue. Near the base of the thallus, the initial regular dichotomous pattern is sometimes less easy to observe. Branching results in a marked zig-zag arrangement of the axial cells in the apical parts of the thallus. Mature axial cells, ca. 10 cells below the apex, are longer than wide (30-60 mm by 300-500 mm; L/W: 2–8:1).

Lateral branching is of 2-3 orders; the apical cell is blunt. All cells are uninucleate. The average nuclear size is 10x15 μm in the main axial cells, while the newly growing cells at the tip had smaller nuclei, averaging 4x6 μm.

The species is distributed in Sungeut Beach, Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea. It is mostly found on tidal rocky substrates. The fibrous thallus is attached to hard rocky substrates. This is a new species record of South Korea. The name honors Professor In kyu Lee for his many years of psychological research in South Korea.

Original research

Eunyoung Shim, Soo Yeon Kim, Yong Tae Kim, Giuseppe C. Zuccarello & Gwang Hoon Kim (2024). A new species of Aglaothamnion (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) from Korea, Aglaothamnion inkyui sp. nov. Phytotaxa 671 (1): 001–011, DOI:10.11646/phytotaxa.671.1.1

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