The genus Leptophytum (Melobesioideae, Corallinales, Rhodophyta) in NW Spitsbergen
Three species of the genus Leptophytum , viz. the generitype L. laeve, L. foecundum and the new Arctic endemic L. jenneborgii nov. sp. are described from localities in NW Spitsbergen. A fourth species, related to L. laeve , may also be present and its status requires further comparative studies with...
| Published in: | Nordic Journal of Botany |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2004
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-1051.2004.tb00851.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1756-1051.2004.tb00851.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1756-1051.2004.tb00851.x |
| Summary: | Three species of the genus Leptophytum , viz. the generitype L. laeve, L. foecundum and the new Arctic endemic L. jenneborgii nov. sp. are described from localities in NW Spitsbergen. A fourth species, related to L. laeve , may also be present and its status requires further comparative studies with Lithothamnion tenue described from western Greenland. Leptophytum jenneborgii is restricted to sublittoral sites around Vasahalvøya, between 8 and 30 m depth growing on hard substrates (usually on Lithothamnion glaciale ) and forming encrusting to foliose thalli up to 10 cm in diameter. New lamellae develop in an unattached‐superimposed pattern, overgrowing the parent thallus, so that individuals can reach at least 1.5 cm in thickness. Thallus organization is dorsiventral, with a noncoaxial hypothallium (producing rare patches of coaxial cells) and an ascending perithallium with short subepithallial and flattened epithallial cells. Multiporate conceptacles have convex or flattened roof and develop specialized (thinner‐wider) pore cells lining the canals. This character combination supports a position in the genus Leptophytum , as recently emended by Athanasiadis & Adey (2006), and simultaneously distinguishes L. jenneborgii from its Arctic and North Atlantic congeners. Like Leptophytum arcticum nov. comb., that is only known from Uddebay on the east coast of Novaja Zemlya, L. jenneborgii shows a restricted distribution on the presumed north periphery of maximum ice cover during the latest glaciation. It is suggested that these two species represent the first evidence of algal glacial survivals in this part of the Arctic. |
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