From oral structure to molecular evidence: new insights into the evolutionary phylogeny of the ciliate order Sessilida (Protista, Ciliophora), with the establishment of two new families and new contributions to the poorly studied family Vaginicolidae

High infestation and phylogenetic position of Epistylis sp. (Ciliophora, Peritrichia) on Aegla serrana Buckup & Rossi (Crustacea, Anomura) from southern Brazil

“…The results obtained here suggest that the species found on Aegla serrana is possibly Epistylis plicatilis. However, due to the discrepancies found, the inability to compare in vivo basic morphological characters due to the sample fixation method, and the current discussions on the relevance of infraciliature characteristics for the comparison of closely related species (Lu et al 2023), we have decided not to designate the epistylid found here as Epistylis plicatilis.…”

On four epibiotic peritrichous ciliates (Protozoa, Ciliophora) found in Lake Weishan Wetland: morphological and molecular data support the establishment of a new genus, Parapiosoma gen. nov., and two new species

“…Ever since Miao et al ( 2004 ) provided the first molecular evidence to indicate that two epistylidids, namely Epistylis galea and Campanella umbellaria , belong to a separate lineage within the Sessilida, the systematics of the family Epistylididae has been in a state of flux. Most epistylidids form a monophyletic group that nests within clades of Zoothamniidae, whereas some epistylidid-like species are distributed in widely disparate clades in phylogenetic trees (Lu et al 2020 , 2023 ; Wu et al 2022a ; Zhuang et al 2018 ). Unfortunately, although the molecular phylogeny of sessilids has been well investigated in recent years, corresponding morphological data and/or voucher specimens are not available for most sequences resulting in problems in determining the taxonomic placements of these epistylidid-like species.…”

“…In recent decades, researchers have been investigating new ways to identify species, e.g., using silver staining methods, and exploring their molecular systematics, mostly using ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene sequence data (Li et al 2008a ; Liao et al 2021 ; Miao et al 2004 ; Sun et al 2016 ). As more rDNA sequences of sessilids have become available, the classifications of some families have been queried (Lu et al 2023 ; Wang et al 2022c ).…”

“…In recent years, new genera and species of Epistylididae have been continuously reported, suggesting that there is a large, undiscovered diversity of this family (Canals and Salvadó i Cabré 2016 ; Kühner et al 2016 ; Wang et al 2021 , 2022d ). Lu et al ( 2023 ) raised two epistylidid genera, i.e., Campanella and Rhabdostyla , to family level based on a combination of morphological and molecular data. However, the remaining epistylidids still do not form a monophyletic group and their systematics remains confused due to the lack of sufficient morphological and molecular data for most species.…”

Diversity of Pleurostomatid Ciliates: Morphology, Taxonomy and Molecular Phylogeny of Freshwater Isolates Found in a Northern China Wetland, with a Description of Two New Species

“…are typically found within the upper layers of sediments or above this layer in the water column as they are sensitive to oxygen gradients and light and move accordingly, thus being well suited for exploiting depleted and anoxic environments; euplotids feed on bacteria, microalgae and small protists and are commonly found in marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats; Amphileptus spp. are widely distributed in freshwater, marine and brackish water habitats [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. The order Pleurostomatida Schewiakoff, 1896 is a common and diverse group of raptorial feeders with developed extrusomes that show a marked preference for more sedentary prey, such as peritrichs and rotifers [13][14][15][16][17].…”