Ciliates of the order Pleurostomatida play essential functions in microbial food webs from a variety of habitats and have been thought to possess a high level of diversity. Due to undersampling and often absent molecular data, the actual diversity and phylogenetic relationships within this group remain unclarified. To help address this deficiency, a survey of freshwater pleurostomatid ciliates was undertaken in Lake Weishan Wetland, northern China. Here, two new Amphileptus species, Amphileptus sinicus sp. nov. and Amphileptus piscinarius sp. nov., were investigated using modern morphological and molecular techniques. Amphileptus sinicus sp. nov. is characterized by possessing a comparatively large cell size of 330–490 μm, contractile vacuoles on both ventral and dorsal margins, and 8–10 left and 42–61 right kineties. Amphileptus piscinarius sp. nov. is characterized by possessing a cell size of 140–210 μm, a large distinctly developed apical extrusome group, 3–4 contractile vacuoles on the ventral margin, and 6–8 left and 24–28 right kineties. Phylogenetic results based on the 18S rRNA gene data of these two species group them with other congeners, with these data suggesting the genus Amphileptus is paraphyletic.
A Corrigendum on Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny of Four Trachelocercid Ciliates (Protozoa, Ciliophora, Karyorelictea) Found in Marine Coastal Habitats of Northern China, With Description of a New Genus, Two New Species and a New Combination by Ma, M., Li, Y., Ma, H., AL-Rasheid, K.A.S., Wang, Y., Yan, Y. 2021. Front. Mar. Sci. 7, 615903. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2020 In the original article, there was a mistake in naming the new genus. The new genus established in the published article, Foissnerella Ma et al., 2021, is a junior primary homonym of Foissnerella Jankowski, 1986 that belongs to Epistylididae Kahl, 1933. According to article 57.2 of the ICZN (1999), the junior primary homonym, Foissnerella Ma et al., 2021, is permanently invalid. It is replaced by Paratrachelocerca nom. nov. Therefore, the Foissnerella typica Ma et al., 2021 is invalid too, and replaced with Paratrachelocerca typica nom. nov.
Abstract Recent advances in molecular technology have revolutionized research on all aspects of the biology of organisms, including ciliates, and created unprecedented opportunities for pursuing a more integrative approach to investigations of biodiversity. However, this goal is complicated by large gaps and inconsistencies that still exist in the foundation of basic information about biodiversity of ciliates. The present paper reviews issues relating to the taxonomy of ciliates and presents specific recommendations for best practice in the observation and documentation of their biodiversity. This effort stems from a workshop that explored ways to implement six Grand Challenges proposed by the International Research Coordination Network for Biodiversity of Ciliates ( IRCN ‐ BC ). As part of its commitment to strengthening the knowledge base that supports research on biodiversity of ciliates, the IRCN ‐ BC proposes to populate The Ciliate Guide , an online database, with biodiversity‐related data and metadata to create a resource that will facilitate accurate taxonomic identifications and promote sharing of data.
The class Litostomatea Small & Lynn, 1981 is a morphologically diverse ciliate group including hundreds of free-living and endocommensal species. The genera Acropisthium Perty, 1852 and Balantidion Eberhard, 1862 previously consisted of one free-living freshwater species respectively. Here we not only supplement the additional morphological features of the two type species, but also investigate a new species, Balantidion foissneri sp. nov., isolated from a river flowing through Lake Weishan, China, based on complementary methods, i.e., living morphology, stained preparations, and 18S rRNA gene sequence data. Balantidion foissneri sp. nov. can be distinguished from the type species, B. pellucidum Eberhard, 1862, by the body size (115–170 × 50–80 μm vs. 70–100 × 25–45 μm in B. pellucidum), oral bulge (distinct vs. indistinct), extrusome shape (filiform vs. rod-shaped), and the number of somatic kineties (46–60 vs. 25–40). In Balantidion species, pre-encystment trophonts show similarly-shaped polymorphic cytoplasmic lepidosomes destined to adorn the outer surface of the resting cyst. Based on the current knowledge, assignment of Balantidion to the family Acropisthiidae is proposed. In addition, phylogenetic analyses based on molecular data show that the two Balantidion species form a fully-supported clade to which Acropisthium mutabile has a strongly-supported sister relationship.
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