Abstract
Cyanoprokaryotes are organisms that perform oxygenic photosynthesis. One of the most diverse orders is Nostocales, whose species are characterized by the presence of heterocytes. Phycofloristic lists in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean have secondarily recorded cyanoprokaryotes. Particularly in Mexico, 1123 species have been recorded, of which only 164 correspond to marine environments. An exhaustive review of the literature on the order Nostocales from the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean was carried out. The list of species was updated taxonomically. Furthermore, the historical analysis of their taxonomy was carried out by consulting the literature corresponding to the starting point established in Bornet and Flahault (1886-1888), as well as previous and later works to date. We found 22 works that include reports of marine Nostocales; 18 correspond to articles and four to book chapters; others contain records presented in a congress meeting. Our updated list of Nostocales from the Mexican Atlantic presents 45 currently taxonomically valid species, distributed in 19 genera and eight families. The states that present the greatest specific richness are Veracruz (33), followed by Quintana Roo (23), Yucatán (18), Campeche (5), Tabasco (4), and Tamaulipas (2). Several attempts at ordering have occurred throughout its history; in the work of Bornet and Flahault, one of the first monographs and compendiums of the group, the order was considered a family, composed of 163 species in 30 genera, 19 sections, two subgenera of seven subtribes, five tribes, one subfamily, one family, and one suborder. Despite these advances, in the last 20 years, Mexican benthic marine cyanoprokaryota species remain little explored, so it is important to continue their registration and analysis.