Morphology and Phylogenetic Placement of Three New Zoothamnium species (Ciliophora: Peritrichia) from Coastal Waters of Southern China

Abstract

The morphology, infraciliature, and silverline system of three peritrichous ciliates, Zoothamnium bucciniiformum sp. n., Zoothamnium florens sp. n., and Zoothamnium zhanjiangense sp. n., were investigated based on both living and silver-stained specimens. Zoothamnium bucciniiformum sp. n., collected from coastal waters (salinity 30‰) off Zhanjiang, southern China, can be distinguished by the following characters: dichotomously branched stalk, peristomial lip with medial circumferential infolding, contractile vacuole apically positioned, 32-49 silverlines between the anterior end and the aboral trochal band, 15-26 between the aboral trochal band and the scopula; two kineties in peniculus 3, not parallel to each other. Zoothamnium florens sp. n., collected from a mangrove wetland (salinity 13‰) off Zhanjiang, is characterized by its large conical zooid, tuberculate peristomial lip, asymmetrical dichotomously branched colony, 59-81 silverlines between the anterior end and the aboral trochal band and 29-36 between the aboral trochal band and the scopula. Zoothamnium zhanjiangense, collected from a mangrove wetland (salinity about 9.5‰) off Zhanjiang, differs from its congeners by the alternately branched stalk, peristomial lip with medial circumferential infolding, 40-63 silverlines from the peristomial area to the aboral trochal band and 13-24 from the aboral trochal band to the scopula. The comparison and analysis of SSU rDNA sequences also support present identifications.

Morphology, taxonomy and molecular phylogeny of three marine peritrich ciliates, including two new species: Zoothamnium apoarbuscula n. sp. and Z. apohentscheli n. sp. (Protozoa, Ciliophora, Peritrichia)

“…A combination of morphological similarity and inaccurate or incomplete descriptions renders it difficult to separate and identify species of Zoothamnium (Ji et al 2006(Ji et al , 2011Kahl 1933Kahl , 1935Lu et al 2020;Precht 1935;Sommer 1951;Stiller 1953a, b;Stiller and Stevčić 1967). Furthermore, new species of Zoothamnium are continuously reported suggesting that there is a large, undiscovered diversity (Ji et al 2015;Lu et al 2020;Schuster and Bright 2016;Shen et al 2017;Sun et al 2015;Wang and Ji 2019).…”

New discoveries of the genus Thuricola Kent, 1881 (Ciliophora, Peritrichia, Vaginicolidae), with descriptions of three poorly known species from China

“…Sessile peritrichs are a large assemblage of ciliates that have a wide distribution in aquatic and terrestrial habitats (Kahl 1935, Foissner et al 1992, Ji et al 2015, Sun et al 2017, Shen et al 2017. Up to now, more than 800 species have been reported (Lynn 2008, Foissner et al 2010, and continuously emerging new taxa suggest that there is a large undiscovered diversity of this group (Peng et al 2007, Foissner et al 2010, Ji et al 2015, Zhuang et al 2016, Shen et al 2017, Sun et al 2017.…”

The Morphology, Taxonomy, and Phylogenetic Analyses of Five Freshwater Colonial Peritrich Ciliates (Alveolata, Ciliophora), Including the Descriptions of Two New Species

“…Zoothamnium zhanjiangense differs from Z. weishanicum n. sp. by its larger zooids (80-100 × 45-55 vs. 55-90 × 30-45 µm in vivo), threerowed (vs. two-rowed) infundibular polykinety 3, and brackish water (vs. freshwater) habitat (Shen et al, 2017).…”

“…Vincent, 1824;Corliss, 1979). It contains more than 140 nominal species, about two-thirds of which lack data on their silverline system and/or infraciliature (Ji et al, 2015;Schuster and Bright, 2016;Shen et al, 2017;Lu et al, 2020;Mayen-Estrada and Dias, 2021). Epicarchesium is characterized by its colonial habit, discontinuous spasmoneme, tuberculate pellicle, reticulate silverline system, and the contraction of the stalk in a spiral fashion (Jankowski, 1985;Leitner and Foissner, 1997).…”