Diversity of <i>Dapis</i> (Microcoleaceae, Cyanobacteria) from coastal marine benthic proliferations in Florida (United States) with the description of three new species

Dapis, along with other benthic cyanobacteria, forms large extensive proliferations (i.e., blooms, mats) that cover sand and seagrass beds across the coasts of Florida, United States. As these benthic cyanobacteria become more prevalent, especially in areas like the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Sarasota Bay, Lemon Bay, Tampa Bay, and the Florida Keys, it is necessary to understand their diversity. To explore the diversity and identify the causative species of these nuisance marine benthic mats, growing and rafting mats were sampled. Three cyanobacterial isolates from marine mats across Florida were characterized and revealed to represent three novel species of Dapis, but with differing morphological features than those of previously described species. With the support of 16S rRNA gene sequence phylogeny, morphological evaluations, 16S-23S ITS rRNA region pairwise distances, and phylogenomic analyses, we have presented three novel species of Dapis. We have also provided taxonomically validated sets of Dapis genomes from several species.