RT Journal Article
T1 Discovery of Flabellia petiolata (Halimedaceae, Chlorophyta) in the southern British Isles: A relict population or a new introduction?
A1 Baldock, L.
A1 Maggs, C. A.
A1 Díaz Tapia, Pilar
K1 Atlantic Europe
K1 Bryopsidales
K1 Citizen science
K1 Cryptogenic
K1 New record
K1 Non-native species
K1 RbcL sequences
K1 Relict species
AB The known distribution of seaweed species often requires updating after findings of new records outside the known range. The green algal family Halimedaceae is predominantly distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. Flabellia petiolata was considered endemic to the Mediterranean, but has also been recorded in the Canary Islands and Cape Verde. Recent marine biodiversity surveys by the citizen science group Seasearch in England led to the surprising discovery of plants that morphologically resemble F. petiolata. In this work we aimed to clarify the taxonomic identity of these specimens using morphological and molecular data. We obtained two rbcL and four tufA sequences for the English specimens that were identical to the two and nine sequences, respectively, available in GenBank for Mediterranean specimens of F. petiolata. This result is in agreement with morphological observations. Therefore, molecular and morphological data confirm that F. petiolata is established in southern England. Whether it is a new introduced species or a relict population is uncertain and we conclude that it is a cryptogenic species in England. This study provides an example of the contribution of citizen science to the better understanding of marine biodiversity.
PB Elsevier
SN 0304-3770
YR 2019
FD 2019-10-19
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/39187
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/39187
LA eng
NO Díaz-Tapia, P., Baldock, L., & Maggs, C. A. (2020). Discovery of Flabellia petiolata (Halimedaceae, Chlorophyta) in the southern British Isles: A relict population or a new introduction?. Aquatic Botany, 160, 103160.
NO Xunta de Galicia
NO DORset Integrated Seabed survey
DS Minerva
RD 24 abr 2026