Tipo de división en esporocistes de Lithophyllum hibernicum (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) y su implicación en el ciclo vital en el Atlántico europeo

Abstract

A recent molecular study revealed that Lithophyllum hibernicum is a dominant intertidal species in Atlantic Europe that produces either tetrasporangial or bisporangial conceptacles, while L. incrustans is mostly a subtidal species producing bisporangia. In the present study, we studied the sporangial conceptacles in L. hibernicum (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) in order to detect any trend in the production of tetrasporangial or bisporangial conceptacles. The specimens, supported by molecular-based identification and preserved in the SANT Herbarium, were collected in different habitats and substrates from French Brittany to Cadiz. Except for one specimen with bisporangial conceptacles, the remaining showed tetrasporangial conceptacles; therefore, an ordinary development of the sporangial stage is presumed along the study area. According to the collection data of each specimen (locality, season and habitat), it was not observed any seasonality in the sporangial conceptacles, neither any relationship between the sporangial conceptacles production and latitude. The sporangial stage was not restricted to any particular substrate and habitat. Given the abudance of tetrasporangial conceptacles in L. hibernicum, we proposed this character as an additional diagnostic feature to separate this species from L. incrustans, for which bisporangial conceptacles are usually described.