MOLECULAR EVIDENCE FROM nrDNA ITS SEQUENCES THAT LAMINARIOCOLAX (PHAEOPHYCEAE, ECTOCARPALES SENSU LATO) IS A WORLDWIDE CLADE OF CLOSELY RELATED KELP ENDOPHYTES

Marine brown algae living as endophytes in macroalgae are morphologically simple and their taxonomy is particularly difficult. A molecular phylogeny for endophytic taxa isolated from kelps and red algae, and for putative epiphytic and free‐living relatives, was inferred from partial small subunit and complete internal transcribed spacer nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences. It has revealed the following results. (1) Three species of endophytes isolated from members of the Laminariales are closely related. They form a clade together with the epi‐endophytic species Laminariocolax tomentosoides (Farlow) Kylin. Members of the clade possess uniseriate plurilocular sporangia, and they may form erect filaments. Laminariocolax eckloniae sp. nov., occurring in the South African host Ecklonia maxima (Osbeck) Papenfuss, is described. The new combinations, Laminariocolax aecidioides (Rosenvinge) comb. nov. and L. macrocystis (Peters) comb. nov., are proposed for two taxa previously classified in Gononema and Streblonema, respectively. (2) The genus Laminariocolax occurs worldwide in temperate areas, and the phylogeny of the taxa studied is in agreement with biogeographic distribution. (3) Laminariocolax belongs to the Ectocarpales sensu lato. The genus is more closely related to Chordaria than to Dictyosiphon, Ectocarpus, or Scytosiphon. (4) Two brown endophytes (Streblonema spp.), isolated from red algae, are closely related to each other and may form a sister clade to Laminariocolax.