A crustose red alga, Lithophyllum neo-okamurae A.Kato, D.Basso, Caragnano, Rodondi, V.Peña & M.Baba, is reported a new record from Korea and its biogeographic distributions are extended in Korea. Lithophyllum neo-okamurae has been known as endemic species in Japan. Despite the resemblance between L. neookamurae and L. okamurae, our molecular and morphological analyses have revealed the simultaneous presence of both species in Korea. Although L. neo-okamurae and L. okamurae share morphological similarities, there are notable variations in gene sequences, with a range of 9.1-11.3% in psbA and 14.8-15.3% in rbcL. Specifically, while L. neo-okamurae is distributed throughout the entire coastline of Korea, L. okamurae is predominantly found in southern region. Furthermore, our analyses have revealed their detailed distributions in Korea.

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

• Gwan Woung Kim(Department of Biological Science, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Republic of Korea)
• So Young Jeong(Australian Rivers Institute-Coast & Estuaries and Coastal and Marine Research Centre, School of Environment and Science, Nathan Campus, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia)
• Boo Yeon Won(Department of Biological Science, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Republic of Korea)
• Tae Oh Cho(Department of Biological Science, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Republic of Korea) Corresponding author