Regional assessment of the seagrass halodule beaudettei - (den hartog) den hartog in the tropical Atlantic Seagrass Bioregion (Bioregion 2) for the IUCN red list

Abstract

The current taxonomic status is unclear. The taxonomic validity of this species has been questioned, and it has been suggested as a synonym of Halodule wrightii (Eiseman, 1980; Rivera-Guzmán et al. 2016; Wheeler et al. 2020). Its species status is based on leaf- tip morphology which is highly variable (den Hartog, 1964; Larkum et al. 2006). According to Rivera-Guzmán et al (2016) in the United States H. beaudettei has been traditionally referred to as H. wrightii.. Taxonomic uncertainty will remain until phylogeographic studies that combine re-examination of type material, descriptions of leaf tip morphology and genetic analyses are conducted over sufficiently broad (i.e., range wide) spatial scales