Abstract
Despite the large number of species discovered in Halymenia, many remain poorly known due to the scarce information available. In order to facilitate species discrimination of foliose Halymenia species in Southeast Asia, molecular analysis and morphological studies were made on Halymenia collections from Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. The rbcL phylogenetic analyses showed that there are at least six taxa of foliose Halymenia occurring in Southeast Asia. Among the six taxa, a new species, Halymenia malaysiana P.-L. Tan, P.-E. Lim, S.-M. Lin et S.-M. Phang, is proposed based on both rbcL sequence analyses and morphological observations. Halymenia malaysiana is characterized by thalli possessing oblong or suborbiculate blades with a supple cartilaginous structure and gelatinous (slimy) texture, arising from a small discoid holdfast without a stipe, abruptly expanding into a broad blade and having a smooth surface with sinusoidally undulated margins. The phylogenetic analyses also revealed that Halymenia is a polyphyletic genus, which requires further taxonomic studies.
About the authors
Pui-Ling Tan is a PhD candidate at the University of Malaya with particular interest in the molecular phylogenetics and systematics of red seaweeds.
Phaik-Eem Lim is an associate professor at the University of Malaya. She was awarded a PhD by the University of Malaya for her work on the molecular taxonomy of Gracilaria species. Her main research interest is on the phylogenetics and biodiversity studies of algae.
Showe-Mei Lin is a marine phycologist and has been working on the marine flora of Taiwan since 1992. Her main research interests are marine red algal systematics and seaweed biogeography. In the past decade, her research group has been also working on Taiwan marine flora with an emphasis on species diversity and monitoring seasonal changes of seaweed communities. Our on-going research projects include the cataloging of benthic marine algae of Taiwan and its neighboring islands and exploring the red algal diversity and their evolutionary histories in the Indo-Pacific regions.
Siew-Moi Phang is a professor and also the Director of the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES), University of Malaya. She was awarded a PhD in Applied Phycology by the University of Malaya. Her research interests include algal systematics, genomics and genetic engineering, tissue and protoplast culture of seaweeds, and the use of algae in bioremediation. She serves as the Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Phycology, and the Malaysian Journal of Science.
Stefano G.A. Draisma is a lecturer at the Prince of Songkla University in Hat Yai. He was awarded a PhD by Leiden University in 2002 for phylogenetic studies in the Phaeophyceae with an emphasis on the order Sphacelariales. Former appointments include curator of algae at the National Herbarium of the Netherlands in Leiden (2005–2009) and senior research fellow at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur (2010–2012). His research includes the systematics and diversity of macroalgae and more recently the biogeography of macroalgae in Southeast Asia.
Lawrence M. Liao has studied and published on the seaweed diversity of Southeast Asia with particular emphasis on the Philippines for the last 30 years. He was awarded a PhD by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for work on the systematics of the Gracilariaceae under the supervision of Professor Max H. Hommersand. He is also interested in algal phytogeography and culture ecology of economically important seaweed species. Currently, he is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Biosphere Science of Hiroshima University.
Acknowledgments
We thank the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia in funding the E-science Fund (04-01-03-SF0672) and the University of Malaya in funding the Postgraduate Research Fund (PG081-2013A) to make the implementation of the project possible, and a MOST-Taiwan research grant (102-2628-B-019-002-MY3) to SML. Support was provided by the Schure-Beijerinck-Popping Fund and the TREUB maatschappij (both of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences), and Bert W. Hoeksema (Naturalis Biodiversity Centre); the Research Centre for Oceanography of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (PPO-LIPI), RISTEK, Yosephine Tuti (RCO-LIPI); the Borneo Marine Research Institute (Universiti Malaysia Sabah), the National Oceanography Directorate (NOD-MOSTI), the World Wildlife Fund – Malaysia, the Economic Planning Unit Sabah, Sabah Parks, and the Department of Fisheries Sabah.
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