Morphological and genetic analyses of Ostreopsis (Dinophyceae, Gonyaulacales, Ostreopsidaceae) species from Vietnamese waters with a re-description of the type species, O. siamensis.

Identification of species of the dinoflagellate genus Ostreopsis is difficult because several species have been poorly described, others misidentified in the literature, and the type species, O. siamensis, has not been described by contemporary taxonomic methods. In the present study, it is argued that Ostreopsis sp. 6 as described by previous authors is similar to the type species, and we offer an emended description of O. siamensis by LM, SEM, and molecular analyses of nuclear LSU and ITS rDNA based on material collected a few hundred kilometers from the type locality in the Gulf of Thailand and along the Vietnamese east coast. Ostreopsis siamensis is genetically different from the species reported as O. cf. siamensis in the literature and the latter should be described as a separate species. It is also concluded that with the poor knowledge of the morphological variability of many species of Ostreopsis, O. siamensis may not be distinguished from other similar-sized species by its morphological features, and hence molecular data are needed for reliable identification. The species Ostreopsis lenticularis and Ostreopsis cf. ovata were also found and described.