Morphology and morphogenesis ofEpistylis plicatilisehrenberg, 1831 (Ciliophora, Peritrichia) from Wuhan, China

Abstract

A limnetic peritrichous ciliate, Epistylis plicatilis Ehrenberg, 1831, was collected from a freshwater ditch beside Moshan Hill, Wuhan, China. Its morphology, infraciliature, and morphogenesis were investigated based on specimens examined in vivo, following staining with protargol and by scanning electron microscopy. The characteristics of the Wuhan population of E. plicatilis are as follows: 1) colonial, each colony typically comprising 30-50 individuals, with a dichotomously branched, noncontractile stalk; 2) fully expanded zooids measure 90-155 × 30-50 µm in vivo; 3) a series of 6 or 7 conspicuous folds appear in the posterior region of the zooid when it contracts; 4) single horseshoe-shaped macronucleus oriented transversely; 5) single contractile vacuole located in peristomial region on dorsal wall of infundibulum; 6) myoneme system comprises 20-24 longitudinal fibers, peristomial disk fibers as a wreath-like net and peristomial ring fibers; 7) narrowly spaced transverse striations on the surface of the body; 8) infundibular polykineties 1 and 2 are three-rowed, infundibular polykinety 3 is two-rowed; and 9) stomatogenesis is of the buccokinetal type; in the new oral apparatus, infundibular polykineties 2 and 3, the haplokinety, and the germinal kinety all originate from the germinal kinety of the parental oral apparatus whereas the polykinety and infundibular polykinety 1 originate from the parental haplokinety. An improved diagnosis of E. plicatilis is supplied.

Farmed Chinese Perch (Siniperca chuatsi) Coinfected with Parasites and Oomycete Pathogens

“…Traditional ciliate identification relies on methods such as microscopy (e.g., silver staining, protein staining, etc.) and analyses of zooid individual size measurements [13,29,31]. This process is tedious and prone to error, and identification is not always accurate [15].…”

Morphological and molecular identification of epibiontic sessilid Epistylis semiciculus n. sp. (ciliophora, Peritrichia) from Procambarus clarkia (Crustacea, Decapoda) in China

“…The present Epistylis can be distinguished from other Epistylis species by the following morphological characteristics: (1) body shape of several species is not vase shape, such as E. aselli Stiller, 1941, E. gammari Precht, 1935, E. helicostylum Vavra, (1962) and E. hentscheli Kahl, (1935) (vs. body shape of the present Epistylis is vase shape (Vavra, 1962; Foissner et al, 1992; Shen and Gu, 2016); (2) peristomial lips of several species are double layer, such as E. chrysemydis Bishop and Jahn, 1941 and E. clampi Hongwei and Overstreet, 2006 (vs. peristomial lip of the present Epistylis is single layer) (Hongwei and Overstreet, 2006; Jiang et al, 2016); (3) contractile vacuoles of several species are on the ventral wall of infundibulum, such as E. acuminata Song, 1986, E. chlorelligerum Shen, 1980 and E. nympharum Engelmann, 1862 (vs. contractile vacuole of the present Epistylis is on the dorsal wall of infundibulum) (Song, 1986; Foissner et al, 1992; Jiang et al, 2016); (4) peristomial disks of several Epistylis species are gradient, such as E. chlorelligerum and E. vaginula Stokes, 1884 (vs. peristomial disk of present Epistylis is semicircular) (Jiang et al, 2016; Shen and Gu, 2016) (5) contractile vacuole of several species are above peristomial lip, such as E. acuminata , E. aselli , E. clampi , E. harpaticola Kahl, 1933, E. plicatilis Ehrenberg, 1838 and E. vaginula (vs. contractile vacuole of the present Epistylis is below peristomial lip) (Song, 1991; Hong and Overstreet, 2006; Shi et al, 2014; Shen and Gu, 2016; (6) macronuclei of several species are J-shaped or band-shaped, such as E. elongata Stokes, 1889 and E. nympharum (vs. macronucleus of the present Epistylis is C-shaped) (Kahl, 1935; Foissner et al, 1992). Detailed comparisons are presented in Table 5.…”

Morphological and Molecular Identification of a New Ciliate, Zoothamnium palmphlatum nov. spec. (Ciliophora, Peritrichia) from North China

“…THE subclass Peritrichia is a large, diverse group of ciliated protists inhabiting a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial habitats and usually dominating the periphyton in eutrophic conditions (Foissner et al 1992;Ji and Kusuoka 2009;Shi et al 2014;Sommer 1951;Sun et al 2013;Wang et al 2011;Wu et al 2011). Zoothamnium is one of the largest peritrich genera and contains over 70 nominal species (Ji et al 2009a(Ji et al , 2015Kahl 1935;Song 2003;Stiller 1971).…”