Morphology and Infraciliature of Three Species of Eutintinnus (Ciliophora; Tintinnina) with Guidelines for Interpreting Protargol‐Stained Tintinnine Ciliates

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The infraciliatures of three Chesapeake Bay species of Eutintinnus conforming in lorica morphology to E. angustatus, E. pectinis, and E. tenuis were compared following Protargol silver impregnation. The kinetome of these species had a number of shared attributes including: 1) a right and left field that were of similar length and kinetal spacing; 2) two, rarely three, long dorsal kineties composed of monokinetids; 3) a ventral kinety; and 4) the absence of a true posterior kinety. Nonetheless, the specific organization of infraciliary components varied considerably among species. For example, the organization of the ventral kinety and several kineties along the border of the left field was different in all three species. In addition, the dorsal kineties of E. angustatus differed positionally from those of E. pectinis and E. tenuis. Some divergence in oral infraciliature was also noted, with the arrangement of infundibular oral polykinetids in E. pectinis and E. tenuis being distinct from that of E. angustatus. The amount of variation in the infraciliature of Eutintinnus spp. was much greater than previously noted for congeneric species of tintinnines and supports the separation E. angustatus, E. pectinis, and E. tenuis at the generic or subgeneric level.

Redescription of Favella ehrenbergii (Claparède and Lachmann, 1858) Jörgensen, 1924 (Ciliophora: Choreotrichia), with Phylogenetic Analyses Based on Small Subunit rRNA Gene Sequences

“…Identifications of this group, and other lorica‐bearing tintinnid ciliates, have traditionally been based on their lorica features, which is problematic given the variation of the lorica (Laval‐Peuto 1981). More recently, it has been reported that the highly conserved somatic ciliary pattern rather than the variable lorica shape should serve as a key character for identification of tintinnids (Agatha and Riedel‐Lorjé 2006; Agatha and Tsai 2008; Choi et al 1992). The small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene is increasingly being sequenced, which will enable the identification of such taxa down to genus or perhaps even species level (Agatha and Strüder‐Kypke 2007; Gao et al 2009; Strüder‐Kypke and Lynn 2008).…”

Tintinnid ciliate diversity in the Mediterranean Sea: longitudinal patterns related to water column structure in late spring-early summer

“…It should be noted that, while tintinnid species identifications are based on lorica morphology because the infraciliature, the basis of alpha-level ciliate taxonomy (Corliss 1979), is known for very few species (e.g., Choi et al 1992, Petz & Foissner 1993, some tintinnid species are apparently capable of expressing different lorica morphologies (e.g., Gold & Morales 1976, Davis 1981, Laval-Peuto 1983, Wasik & Mikolajczyk 1994, Wasik 1998. In the present study, this potential problem should be minor as studies of field populations have rarely shown co-existence of different lorica morphotypes of the same species.…”

Redescriptions of three tintinnid ciliates, Tintinnopsis tocantinensis, T. radix, and T. cylindrica (Ciliophora, Spirotrichea), from coastal waters off China

“…are one of the most common groups of planktonic ciliates, inhabiting in both marine and fresh waters (e.g., Agatha 2011;Gao et al 2009;Foissner and Wilbert 1979;Kim et al 2010;Liu et al 2009Liu et al , 2011aMcManus et al 2010;Tsai et al 2010;Zhang et al 2010). Considering the pathway of energy and materials, they are important elements of the planktonic food web (Choi et al 1992;Dolan 1991;Jiang et al 2011a,b;Pierce and Turner 1992, 1994. Marine tintinnids are characterized by their highly During surveys on ciliate fauna in costal regions of Chinese seas, three tintinnid ciliates were collected, namely Tintinnopsis tocantinensis, T. radix, and T. cylindrica.…”