Gracilaria, Subgenus Textoriella (Gracilariaceae, Rhodophyta) in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean

Abstract

Four species of Gracilaria (Gracilariaceae, Rhodophyta) with textorii-type spermatangial conceptacles (subgenus Textoriella Yamamoto) are recorded for the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean: Gracilaria blodgettii, G. cervicornis, G. mammillaris, and G. tikvahiae. The general distribution of the subgenus for Central America, both Pacific and Atlantic, displays a disjunct pattern explainable based on the geologic vicariant events that interrupted the connection between Pacific and Atlantic at the Isthmuses of Panama (closed 3.1-2.8 million years ago), and Tehuantepec (southern Mexico, closed 4-3.5 million years ago). Gracilaria cuneata/G. crispata, and G. mammillaris (G. hayi)/G. veleroae are 2 pairs of sibling species, or sister taxa, that diverged as a result of the final emergence of the Isthmus, and of the same age as the Central American Isthmus itself.