Evidence for Taxonomic Status of Pachydictyon coriaceum (Holmes) Okamura (Dictyotales, Phaeophyceae) Based on Morphology and Plastid Protein Coding rbcL, psaA, and psbA Gene Sequences

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The morphological and molecular characteristics of Pachydictyon coriaceum (Holmes) Okamura (1899) are described. Plants are collected from Korea all year round and have maximum height from August to September. The monthly variability of thallus growth is in the way with that of the seawater temperature. Two types of thallus structures, thick cortical layer tallus type and thin cortical cell layer type, are distinguished according to growing seasons. The habit of Korean plants is also classified into two thallus types, slender type and wide type, based on the length and the width of internodes, but this distinction between two types is not supported by either anatomical or molecular characteristics. P. coriaceum shares typical morphology in branching pattern and morphogenetic processes with the other species of Dictyota: 1) multi-cellular cortical and medullar layer in the partial of thallus, 2) same development of thallus from apical meristem cell, and 3) sub-lineage within Dictyota species lineage in rbcL, psaA and psbA gene sequences analyses. These characteristics lead to propose the new combination of Dictyota coriacea (Homes) I.K. Hwang, H.S. Kim et W.J. Lee, comb. nov.