<i>Hoefkenia hunsrueckensis</i>, a New Genus and Species from Europe, and the Identity of <i>Virescentia vogesiaca</i> (F.W.Schultz ex Skuja) Necchi, D.C.Agostinho & M.L.Vis (Batrachospermales, Rhodophyta)

Freshwater red algae from Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park previously identified as <i>Virescentia vogesiaca</i> are described as <i>Hoefkenia hunsrueckensis</i> gen. et sp. nov. They cluster in the phylogenetic tree together with <i>Kumanoa</i> and form its sister clade. <i>Virescentia</i> is rendered monophyletic by exclusion of these samples. The taxonomic history of <i>Virescentia vogesiaca</i> is described. The species was named by Skuja referring to the description of <i>Batrachospermum vagum</i> var. <i>flagelliforme</i> Sirodot and the specimens all come from Western France and Spain. The name <i>Batrachospermum vogesiacum</i> was erroneously applied referring to a specimen from the North Vosges close to Germany collected and annotated by F.W. Schultz and representing the new <i>Hoefkenia hunsrueckensis</i>. However, this specimen was never cited in the protologue of <i>Virescentia vogesiaca</i>. We provide evidence that the real <i>Virescentia vogesiaca</i> is endemic to Western France and Spain, and that <i>Hoefkenia hunsrueckensis</i> is restricted to Eastern Belgium, Eastern France and SW Germany, differing in morphological and molecular characters.