Molecular Assisted Identification Reveals Hidden Red Algae Diversity from the Burica Peninsula, Pacific Panama

Abstract

The marine flora of Panama harbors a rich diversity of green, red and brown algae,and despite chronic understudy, it is reported as the second most diverse marine flora along thePacific Central American coast, with 174 macroalgal species. Extensive new collections and molecularassisted identification (MAI) by an international team of researchers has revealed an even greaterdiversity for this country. Here, the intertidal and shallow subtidal marine flora of the remoteBurica Peninsula is introduced. This area is characterized by an uplifted extensive intertidal flatcomposed of firm, sedimentary benthos known as mudrock, on which abundant algal communitiesthrive, even during extended periods of exposure. A collection of nearly 200 brown, green and redmacroalgae specimens representing the first marine floristic inventory of this region was made inJanuary 2011, and results of analyses of 45 foliose red algae specimens are presented. DNA sequencedata for several loci (rbcL-3P; COI-5P; UPA) have been generated for molecular assisted identificationand to guide morphological assessments. Twenty-six species were identified among the specimensincluding 21 new Pacific Panama records, as well as previously unrealized transisthmian distributions,and two new species, Neorubra parvolacertoides sp. nov. and Grateloupia irregularis sp. nov