Some rarely reported deep-water macroalgal species from Bonaire, Caribbean Sea, including <I>Verdigellas discoidea</I> sp. nov. (Palmophyllaceae, Chlorophyta) based on submersible collections

Abstract

Two rarely reported and one newly described species of benthic marine algae are herein recognized from deep-water habitats at Bonaire, representing the first Caribbean reports of each. Archestenogramma profundum is previously known only from its type collection in Bermuda at 17 m depth and the rarely reported Halymenia integra is known originally from its type locality at Cabo Frio, Brazil. Verdigellas discoidea is newly described on the basis of morphological and molecular evidence. It forms flat circular thalli to 6.5 cm in diameter, measuring to 390 µm thick. The disc-like algae are attached by several small holdfasts on the ventral surface, but the margins are mostly free from their substrata.