Redescription of a poorly known marine ciliate, leptoamphisiella vermis gruber, 1888 n. g., n. comb. (Ciliophora, Stichotrichia, Pseudoamphisiellidae), from the yellow sea, China

Abstract

Leptoamphisiella vermis Gruber, 1888 n. g., n. comb. (basionym Epiclintes vermis Gruber, 1888) is an extraordinarily large and worm-like marine stichotrichous ciliate. Based on a population isolated recently from coastal waters of Qingdao, China, the living morphology and infraciliature are redescribed and its taxonomic position is defined. Accordingly, a new diagnosis for this species is suggested: large, marine Leptoamphisiella with a conspicuous layer of pellicular alveoli; 400–1000 mm 40–70 mm in vivo; body bandlike, highly flexible; about 40 membranelles; always three frontal and two buccal cirri; 52–80 transverse cirri (TC) extending to the posterior end of the buccal field; 57–79 left midventral and 44–62 right midventral cirri; 62–102 cirri in left and 63–91 cirri in right marginal rows (MR); 9–13 dorsal kineties that extend the full body length; about 100 macronuclear nodules and 5–13 micronuclei. The diagnosis for the new genus is as follows: vermiform Pseudoamphisiellidae with strongly contractile body, differentiated frontal, buccal, and highly developed TC; two remarkably separated midventral rows; one MR on each side of the body; frontoterminal and caudal cirri absent. Leptoamphisiella vermis n. comb. is fixed as the type species of the new genus.