Phylogeography of and (Dictyotales, Phaeophyceae): unexpected patterns on the Atlantic-Mediterranean marine transition and taxonomic implications.

The Atlantic-Mediterranean marine transition is a fascinating biogeographic region, but still very poorly studied from the point of view of seaweed phylogeography. and (Dictyotales, Phaeophyceae) are two currently recognized sister species that share a large part of their distribution along the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, representing a unique study model to understand the diversification processes experienced by macroalgae during and after Messinian at this marine region. In this study, we sampled 102 individuals of and from 32 localities along their distribution range and sequenced the mitochondrial 1 and the chloroplast LS DNA regions for all the samples.