Kumanoa mahlacensis (Batrachospermales, Rhodophyta) in a Mediterranean coastal wetland, a new species for the European continental algal flora

Abstract

Morphological characters and molecular sequence data of the plastid-encoded RUBISCO large subunit gen (rbcL) confirmed the first record of Kumanoa mahlacensis (S. Kumano & W.A. Bowden-Kerby) Entwisle, M.L. Vis, W.B. Chiasson, Necchi & A.R. Sherwood in Europe from a Spanish Mediterranean coastal wetland. The genus Kumanoa has a worldwide distribution and inhabits in both lotic and lentic habitats, but information about the ecological requirements of species is scarce. In this study, the morphology and ecology of Spanish material is described in order to gain a broader insight of the distribution of species from Mediterranean areas.

Keywords

• batrachospermum
• distribution
• irrigation ditch
• kumanoa
• molecular analysis
• nutrients
• rbcl
• rhodophyta
• spanish mediterranean coastal wetland