Complementary notes on a ‘well-known’ marine heterotrichous ciliate, Folliculinopsis producta (Wright, 1859) Frauré-Fremiet, 1936 (Protozoa, ciliophora)

Abstract

The living morphology and infraciliature of a heterotrichous ciliate, Folliculinopsis producta (Wright, 1859) Fraur&Fremiet, 1936, which was collected from the north coast of China, were investigated by in vivo observation and protargol impregnation techniques. As a new contribution, a redescription is presented: large Folliculinopsis of green to dark green in color, 800-1500t~m in size; two peristomial lobes of approximately equal size, 300-400t~m in length; adoral zone of membranelles containing about 1000 membranelles, lying along lobe margins and exhibiting two circles within buccal cavity; 50-70 somatic kineties in mid-body; macronucleus miniliform, consisting of about 20 beads; lorica smooth, vase-shaped, (300 500)t~m× (90-130)#m in size, with 5-12 spiral ridges on neck tube; marine habitat.

The Taxonomy and Phylogeny of the Poorly known Heterotrich Ciliate Ampullofolliculina lageniformis Hadži, 1951 (Ciliophora: Heterotrichea)

“…U. Folliculinopsis producta (from Ji et al. ). AZM = adoral zone of membranelles; BP = basal plate; Ma = macronucleus; PM = paroral membrane; SK = somatic kineties.…”

“…In terms of the general morphology, another five species should be compared with A. lageniformis , namely Halofolliculina elegans (Claparède & Lachmann, 1859) Hadži , F. producta (Wright, 1859) Fauré‐Fremiet ; Diafolliculina rotunda Hadži, , D. similis Hadži, , D. thomseni (Kent, ) Hadži (Hadži ; Ji et al. ). Halofolliculina elegans resembles A. lageniformis in the bottle‐shaped lorica, the U‐shaped depression on the ventral side of the neck and the two short, broad peristomial lobes.…”

“…In terms of the general morphology, another five species should be compared with A. lageniformis, namely (Kent, 1880-1882) Had zi 1951(Had zi 1951Ji et al 2004). Halofolliculina elegans resembles A. lageniformis in the bottle-shaped lorica, the U-shaped depression on the ventral side of the neck and the two short, broad peristomial lobes.…”

“…The family contains 31 genera and about 70 nominal species, but only seven of these, namely Ascobius lentus , Bickella antarctica , Eufolliculina uhligi , Folliculina simplex , Folliculinopsis producta , Lagotia minor, and Metafolliculina andrewsi, have been studied using silver‐staining or electron microscopy (Ji et al. ; Mulisch and Hausmann ; Mulisch and Smock ; Mulisch et al. ; Song et al.…”

“…Genus and species identification of folliculinids is difficult for two main reasons: firstly, many morphological features used for species circumscription overlap and secondly, the vast majority of species are known only from observations of specimens in vivo. The family contains 31 genera and about 70 nominal species, but only seven of these, namely Ascobius lentus, Bickella antarctica, Eufolliculina uhligi, Folliculina simplex, Folliculinopsis producta, Lagotia minor, and Metafolliculina andrewsi, have been studied using silver-staining or electron microscopy (Ji et al 2004;Mulisch and Hausmann 1984;Mulisch and Smock 1993;Mulisch et al 1998;Song et al 2003;Wilbert and Song 2008). Hitherto, only two folliculinid gene sequences were available in the Genbank database: Folliculina sp.…”