An overview of Suctorian ciliates (Ciliophora, Suctorea) as epibionts of halacarid mites (Acari, Halacaridae)

Self Cite

Suctorian epibionts Thecacineta calix attached on the cuticle of nematodes Desmodora sphaerica and D. pontica are reported here from the deep-sea hexactinellid sponge Pheronema sp. from the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean). The epibiont T. calix is reported here for first time from the Andaman Sea.Keywords: epibionts, suctorians, Thecacineta calix, deep-sea, nematodes, Desmodora, Andaman Sea, Indian Ocean I N T R O D U C T I O NSuctorian ciliates are common epibionts on benthic marine and interstitial invertebrates like harpacticoid copepods, nematodes, halacarid mites etc. (Jankowski, 1981;Dovgal, 1996;Dovgal et al., 2008). A number of suctorian ciliate ectocommensals have been observed occurring on the cuticle of various members of the family Desmodoridae (Allgen, 1952(Allgen, , 1955Matthes, 1956). In the present study, suctorian ciliates have been recovered on the cuticle of two nematode species Desmodora sphaerica and D. pontica belonging to the Desmodoridae family isolated from the deep-sea sponge Pheronema sp. from the Andaman Sea. Scrupulous microscopic observations revealed suctorian epibionts are conspecific with Thecacineta calix. Thecacineta calix is reported here for first the time from the Andaman Sea. M A T E R I A L S A N D M E T H O D SAs part of a deep-sea study of benthic biodiversity, sediment sampling was performed in the Andaman Back Arc Basin (Figure 1) during the RV 'Sonne' cruise (NIO-RVS-II, 17 October to 1 December 2007). Seabed samples were obtained by deploying a TV camera-guided grab (area: 0.6 m 3 ) which consists essentially of a set of steel jaws with a video camera in the centre. It collected sediment and rock samples and transmitted pictures of the ocean floor to the deck unit. Some specimens of hexactinellid sponge were collected along with the sediment and rock samples taken from the upper slope of the Northern Seamount located off Nicobar Island, 9859 0 31.52 00 N 93857 0 15.48 00 E, from a water depth of 1301 m. Upon collection, the sponges were carefully separated from the sediment and immediately preserved with absolute alcohol. In the laboratory, the sponge samples were washed carefully and the entire faunal community associated with sponge spicules were sorted out carefully and identified to the lowest possible taxa. All the nematodes were separated and fixed in 5% formalin. Nematodes were identified to genus/species level according to Platt & Warwick (1983) and using on-line recent literature (www.nemys.ugent.be).Measurements of ciliates were made using the computer program Scope Photo v. 2.0 for processing of digital images. For slide preparation the material was stained by Boehmer's haematoxylin and mounted in Canada balsam. Permanent slides of infested nematodes were deposited in the collections of the Department of Fauna and Systematics of Invertebrate Animals of the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, National Academy of Sciences, Ukraine and in the museum of Biological Oceanography, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India. R E S U L T S A N D D I S C U S S I O N...

Section: Distribution and Host Specificitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Jankowski, 1981;Dovgal, 1996;Dovgal et al, 2008). A number of suctorian ciliate ectocommensals have been observed occurring on the cuticle of various members of the family Desmodoridae (Allgen, 1952(Allgen, , 1955Matthes, 1956).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Report of epibiont Thecacineta calix (Ciliophora: Suctorea) on deep-sea Desmodora (Nematoda) from the Andaman Sea, Indian Ocean

Ingole

Singh

Sautya

et al. 2010

Self Cite

“…Jankowski, 1981;Dovgal, 1996;Dovgal et al, 2008). However, there is a paucity of information on suctorian ciliates in general, and as epibionts of marine nematodes inhabiting tropical continental shelf ecosystems in particular.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suctorian epibionts on Chromaspirina sp. (Nematoda: Desmodoridae) from the shallow continental shelf of the Bay of Bengal, northern Indian Ocean

Bhattacharjee

2014

Suctorian epibionts on Chromaspirina sp. (Nematoda: Desmodoridae) from the shallow continental shelf of the Bay of Bengal, northern Indian Ocean dola bhattacharjeeMinistry of Environment and Forests, Eastern Regional Office, A/3 Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar, IndiaThe suctorian ciliates, Thecacineta cothurnioides and Trematosoma rotunda, belonging to the families Thecacinetidae and Acinetidae, were recorded as prominent epibionts on the cuticle of a marine free-living nematode, Chromaspirina sp. (Desmodoridae) from shallow sediments of the continental shelf of the Bay of Bengal. The biometrics of these suctorians arecompared with literature data, and their species-specific association with nematodes is discussed.

“…distribution Thecacineta calix was earlier reported as an epibiont on nematodes, crustacean copepods, halacarid mites from the Atlantic, Pacific, Antarctic and Indian Oceans (Schröder, 1907;Schulz, 1931;Steiner, 1931;Allgen, 1949Allgen, , 1952Allgen, , 1955Matthes, 1956;Gelmboldt & Dovgal, 2005;Susetiono, 2006;Jankowski, 2007;Dovgal et al, 2008a;Ingole et al, 2010;Chatterjee et al, 2012). From the north-west Pacific Ocean it was reported on halacarid mites from Hokkaido, Japan and Taiwan (Dovgal et al, 2008a;Chatterjee et al, 2012).…”

Section: Class Suctorea Claparede and Lachmann 1859mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Body dimensions of Praethecacineta halacari collected from Brunei are given in Table 1. distribution Praethecacineta halacari is an epibiont on various halacarid mites reported from Bulgaria, Ukraine (Black Sea); Norway, Kiel Bay of North Sea, Caspian Sea, Western Australia, Atlantic coast of Brazil, west coast of India, Taiwan, Tanzania and Canada (Schulz, 1933;Detcheva, 1992;Boshko & Dovgal, 2004;Gelmboldt & Dovgal, 2005;Dovgal et al, 2008aDovgal et al, , 2009b, and Brunei Darussalam (present study). Cell body weakly laterally flattened, entirely filling the lorica and attached to its posterior margin.…”

Section: Brief Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New records of ciliate epibionts (Ciliophora: Suctorea) from Brunei Darussalam

Chatterjee

Fernández-Leborans

Marshall

2014

Self Cite