Gelidium omanense sp. nov. (Gelidiaceae, Rhodophyta) from the Sultanate of Oman

A new species of the red algal genus Gelidium, G. omanense M.J. Wynne, is described from the Sultanate of Oman, northern Arabian Sea. This species is a very commonly occurring eulittoral seaweed on the Omani coast, essentially one of the dominant species during the summertime southwest monsoon on exposed rocky shores. Its distribution is from Dhofar (southern Oman) in the west to Masirah Island, Sharqia, in the east. It has been mis-identified as Suhria vittata (L.) J. Agardh wnow Gelidium vittatum (L.) Kutz.; cf. Tronchin et al. (2002)x. Recent ̈ studies of morphology and rbcL gene sequences, however, have demonstrated that this alga differs from other known species in Gelidium and should be recognized as a new species.