A new genus Neococcotylus gen. et comb. nov. (Phyllophoraceae, Rhodophyta) from Russian Pacific coast

We investigated fresh collections and dry specimens (attached and loose-lying forms) of the endemic species previously named 'Coccotylus orientalis' from the Russian Pacific coast using morphology and sequencing of the plastid rbcL gene and mitochondrial COI-5P. 'Coccotylus orientalis' formed a clade, which was separated from other Coccotylus species, including the generitype Coccotylus brodiei, and also distinct from other genera in the Phyllophoraceae. It was sister to a clade containing Stenogramma spp. Morphologically 'C. orientalis' clearly differs from Stenogramma by the location of cystocarpic sori along the upper edge of the blades, versus along the median line of the blades in Stenogramma. We describe Neococcotylus orientalis gen. nov. et comb. nov. Neococcotylus differs from Coccotylus by elongated, convex cystocarps located on both sides of the blade parallel to the upper edge and cruciately divided tetrasporangia, formed in catenate rows within nemathecia, in contrast to Coccotylus that has carpotetrasporangia. Neococcotylus is monotypic and only known from Peter the Great Bay (Far East of Russia, Sea of Japan).