Phytotaxa 383 (2): 147–164 ISSN 1179-3155 (print edition) http://www.mapress.com/j/pt/ PHYTOTAXA Copyright © 2018 Magnolia Press Article ISSN 1179-3163 (online edition) https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.383.2.2 Phylogenetic analysis of Rhizoclonium (Cladophoraceae, Cladophorales), and the description of Rhizoclonium subtile sp. nov. from China ZHI-JUAN ZHAO1,2, HUAN ZHU3, GUO-XIANG LIU3* & ZHENG-YU HU4 1Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf (Guangxi Teachers Education University), Ministry of Education, Nanning, 530001, P. R. China 2 Guangxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Intelligent Simulation (Guangxi Teachers Education University), Nanning, 530001, P. R. China 3Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, P. R. China 4State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, P. R. China *e-mail:
[email protected] Abstract The genus Rhizoclonium (Cladophoraceae, Cladophorales) accommodates uniserial, unbranched filamentous algae, closely related to Cladophora and Chaetomorpha. Its taxonomy has been problematic for a long time due to the lack of diagnostic morphological characters. To clarify the species diversity and taxonomic relationships of this genus, we collected and analyzed thirteen freshwater Rhizoclonium specimens from China. The morphological traits of these specimens were observed and described in detail. Three nuclear gene markers small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU), large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU) and internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequences were analyzed to elucidate their phylogenetic relationships. The results revealed that there were at least fifteen molecular species assignable to Rhizoclonium and our thirteen specimens were distributed in four clades.