Laurencia is a red algal genus that was described by J.V. Lamouroux in 1813. The main characteristics of this genus have been known as the presence of four pericentral cells in an axial segment, secondary pit connections between adjacent epidermal cells, and the presence of corps en cerise in both epidermal and trichoblast cells. Additionally, the tetrasporangia are arranged in a parallel manner, and male branches feature terminal cup-shaped spermatangial pits. Currently, sixteen Korean Laurencia species have been reported based on their morphological characteristics. In this study, Laurencia decussata and L. pacifica have been added as new records to the Korean algal flora based on a combination of morphological observations and molecular analyses of rbcL sequences. Laurencia decussata has expanded from Australia and New Zealand to Korea, while the distribution of L. pacifica has expanded from USA and Mexico to Korea.

1. INTRODUCTION
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
    2.1. Molecular analysis
    2.2. Morphological observations
3. RESULTS
    3.1. Phylogenetic analyses
    3.2. Morphological observations
4. DISCUSSION
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Declaration of Competing Interest
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
REFERENCES

• Paola Romero-Orozco(Department of Life Science, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Republic of Korea)
• Boo Yeon Won(Department of Life Science, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Republic of Korea)
• Tae Oh Cho(Department of Life Science, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Republic of Korea) corresponding author