Allozyme variation in New Zealand Porphyra (Rhodophyta)

We present data for Porphyra columbina and eight putative species collected from 27 sites around the North, South, and Stewart Islands, New Zealand. Thirty three alleles at ten gene loci are compared. For P. columbina and five putative species, allozyme patterns generally corresponded to the suite of morphological characteristics being considered for their delineation. The allozymes of three other putative species showed no such relation. Most populations at sites with several putative species had higher allele-to-locus ratios than populations at single species sites, and many were more closely related to putative non-conspecifics than to conspecifics. The results suggest that more saxicolous species exist than were previously reported and further the speculation that some of the putative species may opportunistically hybridise.