Evidence for the proposal that <italic>Palisada corallopsis</italic> and <italic>P. furcata</italic> (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) are conspecific.

<italic>Palisada corallopsis</italic> has a widely reported distribution in the western and eastern Atlantic and some areas of the Indo-Pacific Ocean, whereas <italic>P. furcata</italic> has a more restricted distribution, reported only from Brazil and Cuba. <italic>Palisada corallopsis</italic> and <italic>P. furcata</italic> were collected from their type localities, Havana, Cuba and Ceará, Brazil, respectively, and compared by morphological and molecular analyses using <italic>rbc</italic>L and COI-5P genes. The molecular results placed the sequences from the type locality of both species in the same clade, showing low genetic divergence, 0.95 % for <italic>rbc</italic>L and 1.6 % for COI-5P. Morphologically, the species share similar habits, with branchlets bi-to trifurcated, cortical cells that may be arranged as a palisade and connected by secondary pit-connections. Our detailed morphological observations, including examination of the type specimens, and molecular analyses demonstrate that <italic>P. corallopsis</italic> and <italic>P. furcata</italic> are conspecific, <italic>P. furcata</italic> being a later taxonomic synonym of <italic>P. corallopsis</italic>. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]