摘要: Due to morphological plasticity and paucity of diagnostic morphological characters, the taxonomy of Kappaphycus gets more and more confused with the expanding of commercial cultivation. In this study, the phylogenetic relationship of 13 strains of introduced Kappaphycus species in China was defined using DNA molecular markers, such as 18S rDNA, rbcL and cox2-cox3 spacer region. The resolutions obtained by three different molecular markers were compared:both cox2-cox3 spacer region and rbcL sequences are eligible in inter-species identification of Kappaphycus, whereas cox2-cox3 spacer region is more variable than rbcL sequence. There is several basepairs' discrepancy among 18S rDNA sequences, while it is 100% identical among both cox2-cox3 spacer region and rbcL sequences of the ten strains of K. alvarezii. We suppose that 18S rDNA sequence can provide more information in biogeography study of Kappaphycus than other two DNA sequences.