Abstract
A new brackish water urostylid ciliate, Pseudourostyla cristatoides n. sp. was collected from Songjiho lagoon on the coast ofEast Sea, South Korea, and investigated based on morphology, morphogenesis, and 18S rRNA gene sequences.Pseudourostyla cristatoides is characterized by the following features: slender to elliptical body shape; colourless to dark greyin colour; size in vivo about 220–265 × 85–125μm; flexible and slightly contractile body with narrowly spaced extrusomes(trichocyst type) throughout the whole cell; 2 contractile vacuoles on left side of cell at about 25% and 75% of body length;84–115 adoral membranelles, 20–30 frontal cirri, 1 buccal cirrus, 2 frontoterminal cirri, 17–25 midventral pairs, 2pretransverse, 6–12 transverse cirri, 5–7 left and 4–5 right marginal rows, and 10–13 dorsal kineties; 30–106 macronuclearnodules and 3–5 micronuclei; brackish habitat (salinity 3–5‰). This new species is very similar to P. cristata, but distinguishedprimarily by contractile vacuoles (2 vs. 1 in number; positioned 25%, 75% of body length vs. ahead of mid-body), dorsalkineties (10–13 vs. 8), hyaline layer underneath pellicle (inconspicuous vs. conspicuous), habitat (brackish vs. freshwater), andparticipation of posterior cirri of rear corona in fronto-ventral-transverse cirral anlagen (yes vs. no). Additionally, intra-/inter-specific pairwise genetic distances of the 18S rRNA gene sequences supported that the Songjiho population is a novel species(intra-specific distances of 0.07–0.12% among three P. cristata populations vs. inter-specific distances of 0.93–1.00% between P. cristatoides and three P. cristata populations).
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call