Ulva sp.

3.5 Ulva sp. NC 5 - Ulva tepida

Ulva tepida (sp. NC 5) was resolved in a clade that had poor to no (BS 72; PP 0.76) and moderate to full (BS 86; PP 1.0) support in the tufA and rbc L analyses, respectively. This clade was sister to U. chaugulei M.G.Kavale et Kazi and part of a larger clade with little to no support that also included Ulva iliohaha H.L.Spalding et A.R.Sherwood and multiple species recently described from New Caledonia ( Lagourgue et al. 2022). The North Carolina U. tepida samples were all from New Hanover County, besides one from Carteret County ( Figure 5 View Figure 5 ). This species was found in euhaline and mesohaline environments. Morpho-anatomically, North Carolina samples were tubular, all had maximal lengths less than 10 cm, their cells had length:width ratios of less than 1 in transection, and all had a proliferous base ( Table 3, Figure 7A and B View Figure 7 ).