Ulva lacinulata (Kützing) Wittrock

3.5 Ulva lacinulata (Kützing) Wittrock

The presence of U. lacinulata (Kützing) Wittrock ( Figure 4 View Figure 4 ) is confirmed in the marine sites ST09 and ST10 of Torre Faro and in the channel connecting Lake Ganzirri to the sea (ST08). The presence of U. lacinulata from the Lagoon of Venice is reported in Porto S. Leonardo and Bocca di Porto di Lido. These samples had been previously identified as U. laetevirens by Armeli Minicante (2013), being genetically conspecific with U. laetevirens from Australia (type area, Port Phillip, South Australia) ( Kirkendale et al. 2013).

According to Hughey et al. (2021), U. lacinulata is the correct name to apply to the globally [excluding European] distributed species that was previously but incorrectly known as U. rigida . In Europe, both the genuine U. rigida and U. lacinulata occurs; however, according to the distribution based on DNA sequences reported by Hughey et al. (2021), at present, U. rigida appears to be restricted to the European north-eastern Atlantic Ocean, whereas U. lacinulata – variously reported either as U. rigida or U. laetevirens – is distributed further in the Mediterranean Sea.

In the Lagoon of Venice, U. lacinulata was already reported as U. lactuca f. lacinulata by Schiffner and Vatova (1938) and Pignatti (1962). Sfriso (1987) and later ( Sfriso 2010b; Sfriso and Curiel 2007), referring to Bliding (1968), listed U. lactuca f. lacinulata as a synonyms of U. rigida .

Furthermore, the comparison of the sequences from Tunisia published by Miladi et al. (2018) showed that U. lacinulata was previously labelled as U. laetevirens in Monastir, Sousse and Tabarka sites ( Figure 4 View Figure 4 ) for the same reason stated above ( Kirkendale et al. 2013).