Morphological observation,life history and rbcL gene sequence analysis of a new species,Grateloupia variata sp. nov. (Halymeniaceae,Rhodophyta) from Qingdao,China

Grateloupia variata sp. nov. H. W. Wang (Halymeniaceae, Rhodophyta) is newly described from Qingdao, China. The results indicated that: (1) thalli are cartilaginous or gelatinous in texture; (2) thalli are constricted at the base with frequent proliferations; (3) the end portion of branches are irregular, wide, flat or ungulate, split; (4) the cortex is 50–80?μm thick, consisting of four to six layers of cells; the medulla is 10–15?μm long and 1–3?μm wide, consisting of densely and irregularly intertwined filaments; (5) six-celled carpogonial ampullae branched and five-celled auxiliary cell ampullae branched; they are of the typical Grateloupia-type; (6) tetraspores and carpospores grow directly into discoid crusts through initial cell division and are of the immediate discal type; (7) Grateloupia variata sp. nov. shows a typical triphasic life history with homotypic gametophytes, carposporophytes and tetrasporophytes, and a typical homotypic alternation of generations; and (8) the rbcL sequences show no pairwise divergence and the species form a small single monophyletic subclade within the Grateloupia clade. Morphological observations, life history and molecular analysis support G. variata as a new species.