New record of Gracilaria phuquocensis (Gracilariaceae, Rhodophyta) in the Philippines

While reliance on morphology has been at the expense of clearly distinguishing gracilarioid species, molecular data have proven to be more reliable in discriminating between taxa. Gracilaria phuquocensis was originally described, based on materials collected from Vietnam. Since it was described in 2020, there have been no further reports of this species. Meanwhile, a question has been raised as to whether the identity of a rhodophyte gracilarioid alga collected from the Philippines that has been referred to as an unidentified species of Gracilaria, could be G. phuquocensis. Based on comparative morpho-anatomical features and a molecular phylogeny based on rbcL gene sequences, establishing the identity of the Philippine material has led to the finding of the new record of G. phuquocensis outside its type locality. In addition to the discovery of G. phuquocensis in the Philippines, the species here is also identified as a newly-reported host for the adelphoparasite resembling Gracilaria babae.