Morphology of Two Eschaneustyla Species (Ciliophora, Urostylida), with Notes on Morphogenesis of Eschaneustyla lugeri

Abstract

In this study, morphology of a Brazilian population of Eschaneustyla terricola Foissner, 1982 and a Chinese population of E. lugeri Foissner, Agatha & Berger, 2002 were studied based on living observation and protargol impregnation. Several stages of morphogenesis in E. lugeri were reported and the most remarkable features are characterized as follows: (1) partly renewal of adoral zone of membranelles in the proter and the parental midventral cirri do not join the construction of the opisthe's oral primordium; (2) three or four buccal cirri each develop from one frontoventral cirral anlage and undulating membranes anlage generates two frontal cirri; (3) frontoventral cirral anlagen n and n-1 develop de novo and in the frontoterminal cirral row, respectively; (4) intrakinetal development of marginal and dorsal kineties anlagen; (5) fusion of macronuclear nodules into a single mass.