Molecular characterization and morpho-taxonomy of Gambierdiscus caribaeus Vandersea, Litaker, M. A. Faust, Kibler, W. C. Holland & P. A. Tester (Dinophyceae) from Mauritius Island, South-West Indian Ocean Author Mussai, Prakash Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Mauritius, Reduit (Mauritius) prakashmussai @ gmail. com (corresponding author) Author Larsen, Jacob IOC Science and Communication Centre on Harmful Algae, Biological Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 4, DK- 2100 Copenhagen Ø. (Denmark) Author Jeewon, Rajesh Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Mauritius, Reduit (Mauritius) r. jeewon @ uom. ac. mu (corresponding author) text Cryptogamie, Algologie 2023 2023-01-30 20 1 1 11 journal article 247257 10.5252/cryptogamie-algologie2023v44a1 b0d594d3-64f7-40c9-8fff-ad3e5fca47b7 1776-0992 7829562

TABLE 1. — Comparisons based on scanning microscopy (SEM) analyses of cell and thecal plate dimensions (mean in parenthesis) between strains of Gambierdiscus caribaeus Vandersea, Litaker, M.A.Faust, Kibler, W.C. Holland & P.A.Tester.

	Mauritius	Belize	Thailand	Hainan Island
Reference	This study	Litaker et al. 2009	Tawong et al. 2015	Zhang et al. 2016
Shape of cells	Compressed	Compressed	Compressed	Compressed
Surface	Smooth	Smooth	Smooth	Smooth
Thecal plates pores	Round	Round to oval	Round	Round to oval
Length (L, μm)	43.64-64.57 (50.9 ±9.2) n =4	–	(44.1)	(53.9)
Depth (D, μm)	45.18-75.45 (64.5 ±8.3) n =15	(77)	(64.4)	(87.6)
Width (W, μm)	51.43-86.36 (68.8 ±11.9) n =18	(79)	(62.9)	(84.7)
D:W ratio	0.72-1.18 (1.0± 0.1) n= 15	(1)	(1.0)	(1.0)
L:W ratio	0.57-1.20 (0.8± 0.3) n= 4	(0.73)	(0.73)	–
Shape of apical pore plate Elliptical, fishhook (Po)		Elliptical, large fishhook	Elliptical, fishhook	Elliptical, fishhook
Position of Po	Centrally located	–	–	Centrally located
Length (L, μm) of Po	6.50-8.98 (8.1 ± 1.0) n= 8	(8.3)	(8.8)	(8.4)
Width (W, μm) of Po	4.00-6.33 (5.0± 0.7) n= 8	(5.3)	(6.7)	(5.5)
L:W ratio of Po	1.37-2.02 (1.6± 0.2) n= 8	(1.59)	(1.35)	(1.5)
Shape of Po pores	Round and oval	–	–	Round
Number of internal pores in Po	26-40 (33.4± 5.4) n =10	37	(37)	(31)
Diameter of pores in Po (μm)	0.29-0.52 (0.40 ± 0.07) n =40	0.34	(0.31)	(0.45)
Shape of 4’ (equivalent 1’ plate)	Hexagonal	Hexagonal	–	Hexagonal
Number of pores in 4’ (equivalent 1’ plate)	72-105 (91.6± 11.1) n= 8	–	–	(98)
Shape of 2’ plate symmetry	Rectangular	Rectangular	Rectangular	Rectangular
Shape of 2’’’’ (equivalent 1p plate)	Pentagonal and broad	Pentagonal and broad	Pentagonal and broad	Pentagonal
Length (L, μm) of 2’’’’ (equivalent 1p plate)	37.4-48.81 (40.6 ± 4.7) n= 5	(43)	(37.8)	(51.0)
Width (W, μm) of 2’’’’ (equivalent 1p plate)	31.85-41.73 (35.1±4.0) n =5	(34)	(29.4)	(35.0)
L: W ratio of 2’’’’ (equivalent 1p plate)	1.05-1.21 (1.2± 0.1) n= 5	(1.26)	(1.28)	(1.5)
Ratio of width of the 2’’’’ (equivalent 1p plate) relative to cell width	37.89-48.68% (45.6± 5.2%) n =4	–	–	(42.8%)