New Record of Marine Red Algal Species Grateloupia orientalis Showe M. Lin & H.Y. Liang and G. catenata Yendo (halymeniaceae, Rhodophyta) from the East Coast of India

The present study reports the new record of two Grateloupia species (Halymeniales, Rhodophyta) namely Grateloupia orientalis Showe M. Lin & H.Y. Liang and G. catenata Yendo from the coast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Tiruchendur in Tamil Nadu, India respectively. Morphological and anatomical studies showed that these differed from the earlier recorded Grateloupia species, viz. G. indica, G. filicina and G. lithophila. The descriptive statistics and MDS analysis revealed that these two species differed from the earlier recorded Grateloupia sp. The taxonomic evaluation of these two Grateloupia species based on chloroplast-encoded rbcL gene revealed that they are closely related, sharing few traits between them.