Edaphophycus epilithus gen. et sp. nov. (Oscillatoriales, cyanobacteria) with a description of the morphology and molecular phylogeny

Two strains of subaerial cyanobacteria were collected from two locations of the Republic of Korea, one in Seoul and the other in Gyeonggi‐do, both of which were studied using morphological and molecular traits. The genus Edaphophycus belonging to the family Coleofasciculaceae is morphologically very similar to the type genus Coleofasciculus and genus Kastovskya. However, in genera Coleofasciculus and Roseofilum thylakoids were reported as radial arrangements, whereas in genera Anagnostidinema, Geitlerinema, Kastovskya, and Wilmottia, belonging to family Coleofasciculaceae, thylakoids were reported as parietal arrangements, and in genus Edaphophycus in this study, thylakoids also appeared as parietal arrangements. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA showed that our two Edaphophycus epilithus strains clustered in the same clade, forming a sister relationship with genus Anagnostidinema. This suggested that our species belongs to the family Coleofasciculaceae. In addition, the ITS structure of E. epilithus showed different features when compared with genera Coleofasciculus and Anagnostidinema. These results demonstrated that E. epilithus sp. nov. is unique in morphology and molecular traits. Therefore, we propose this to be a novel species belonging to family Coleofasciculaceae and genus Edaphophycus gen. nov.