Jania pedunculata J.V.Lamouroux

Macagnan, Leonardo B., Venturin, Claudia S., Azevedo, Marina L., Harvey, Adela & Gurgel, C. Frederico D., 2023, Molecular systematics of Jania species (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) from south-eastern Australia based on cox 1 and psbA DNA sequence analyses, Phytotaxa 606 (2), pp. 87-103 : 98

Jania pedunculata J.V.Lamouroux

—Specimens morphologically identified as J. pedunculata var. adhaerens and J. pedunculata var. pedunculata sensu Harvey et al. (2020) were resolved as well-supported sister species (BP = 96– 100, PP = 1.0, Figs 1,3) in both cox 1 phylogenetic and SDM results. The genetic divergence between the two varieties was 4.2%. Jania pedunculata var. pedunculata was represented by sequenced specimens LTB18179, LTB18183, LTB 18198 and J. pedunculata var. adhaerens by sequenced specimens LTB 18185 and BRI709599. Harvey et al. (2020, pages 239–240) identified specimens with vegetative swollen tips (= branch apices) as J. pedunculata var. pedunculata and those without any swollen tips as J. pedunculata var adhaerens . Our molecular studies supported the Harvey et al (2020) conclusions to keep the two entities separate and future detailed molecular studies may provide further evidence that these varieties correspond to separate species. The J. pedunculata molecular results presented here also support the conclusions of Woelkerling et al. (2015b) who recognized J. pedunculata as distinct from J. crassa , in contrast to what was suggested by Johansen and Womersley (1994) and Womersley (1996). According to Harvey et al. (2020), the type of J. pedunculata var. adhaerens comes from the Mediterranean Sea. Jania pedunculata var. adhaerens and its synonyms, such as J. adhaerens , have been reported worldwide ( Harvey et al. 2020). The extent of which those worldwide records represent the same entity herein recorded from south-eastern Australia or a different species still awaits molecular confirmation. Recently, specimens historically identified as J. adhaerens in Brazil, forming freeliving rounded thalli clumps, were proposed to represent a distinct species, Jania cabista Tamega et al. (2021) , type locality: Arraial do Cabo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Specimens that fit the general morphological habit of J. pedunculata var. adhaerens might represent a species complex.