XVI International Botanical Congess

Flahaultia tegetiformans W.R. Taylor is an uncommon, cryptic, subtidal, coral reef-inhabiting Caribbean red alga that is currently placed in the family Solieriaceae (Gigartinales). Reinvestigation of the cystocarp morphology from specimens recently collected in the Dominican Republic suggests that the taxon is missplaced in that family. Sequence analysis inferred from chloroplast-encoded rbcL furthermore indicates that, although belonging in the Solieriaceae-complex, F. tegetiformans is more closely allied with the Dicranemataceae, a family so far restricted to Australia and Japan, and the monotypic Rissoellaceae, a family endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. The taxonomic, phylogenetic and biogeographic implications of this enigmatic red alga will be discussed.