Morphology And Taxonomy Of Some Psammophilic And Endocommensal Ciliates In Coastal Waters Off Shandong Province

Psammophilic ciliates are benthic protozoa, living in the water habitat between sand granules, especially interstitial fine sand (with sand granules diameter 100-250μm). They are free-living and play significant roles in material recycling and energy flow of the marine microbial food web. Most ciliates'taxa can be found in this special habitat. Rare researches have been carried out on such a special fauna in China till now. This thesis introduces living morphology and infraciliature of 11 psammophilic ciliates.Endocommensal ciliates refer to those ciliated protozoa, living in body parts of other organisms and they do no obvious harm or benefit to their hosts. Many morphological researches on these ciliates were conducted in the 1920s-1970s, mainly with the living observation method. Although China started such researches fairly late (in the 1990s, Prof. Weibo Song's group, Lab of Protozoology, Ocean University of China), many new findings are reported, especially on parasitic or commensal ciliates in mariculture animals. However, no researches on endocommensal ciliates, which are isolated from echinoids, using modern methods, were carried out in China before ours. This thesis presents infraciliature of three endocommesal ciliates for the first time, which were isolated from the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Boveria labialis) and the sea urchin Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus (Entorhipidium fukuii and Madsenia indomita).From autumn 2004 to summer 2006, 20 species of marine free-living and endocommensal ciliates were collected from coastal waters off coasts of Shandong Province. The morphology and infraciliature of 15 species representing six orders, 11 genera were investigated in vivo and after silver impregnation methods. The results are as follows:Five new species are isolated and described:Frontonia didieri nov. spec.: Marine Frontonia in vivo ca. 100-150×45-80μm, body shape elliptical, dorsoventrally nearly not flattened. 61-71 somatic, three vestibular and 3-5 postoral kineties. Peniculus 1 and 2 each composed of four rows, whereas peniculus 3 has three rows. Single contractile vacuole centrally-located, with ca. 8 collecting canals.Frontonia lynni nov. spec.: Marine Frontonia about 100-210×70-150μm in vivo, body shape ellipsoidal, dorsoventrally strongly flattened of about 3:1 with conspicuously small buccal cavity. 71-83 somatic, three vestibular and five postoral kineties. Peniculi 1 and 2 each with four rows whereas peniculus 3 has five ciliary rows. Macronucleus ellipsoidal. Single contractile vacuole, equatorially located on the right margin. Extrusomes spindle-shaped.Frontonia multinucleata nov. spec.: About 70-120×40-75μm in vivo, body shape elliptical, dorsoventrally flattened of about 2:1. 58-67 somatic, three vestibular and 4-5 postoral kineties. Peniculus 1-3 each with four rows. 2-4 globular macronuclei. Single contractile vacuole, centrally located. Marine habitat.Schizocalyptra aeschtae nov. spec.: 75-200×30-80μm in vivo, bilaterally about 1:2 flattened; about 15 prolonged cilia in posterior half body; 60 somatic kineties on average; bases of M1 and M2b short; M3 about the same length to M2a; paroral membrane with 6-12 fragments at its posterior part; one large contractile vacuole terminally located; marine habitat.Sathrophilus holtae nov. spec.: Marine Sathrophilus in vivo 35-70×20-40μm, elliptical in outline; dorsoventrally about 2:1 flattened; 21 somatic kineties on average; M1 three-rowed and bipartite with first row conspicuously long and separated from another two; M2 two-rowed and L-shaped; lengths of M2 to M3 ratio about 3:1; paroral membrane extending to above M2 level; contractile vacuole pore located caudally at the end of SK1.The improved definitions for three genera are given:Entorhipidium: Marine endocommensal scuticociliates with a sigmoid body shape and conspicuously narrow posterior end, strongly bilaterally flattened; cytostome located in a concavity anterior to equatorial level; buccal apparatus of Uronema-pattern, i.e. M1 single-rowed while M2 and M3 are clearly separated and with multi-row-structure, paroral membrane terminating at anterior level of M2; somatic kineties form both apical and post-oral sutures, and because these kineties are often in a twisted or spiral mode, the post-oral suture is formed on the right side of the cell; found in sea urchin digestive tracts.Madsenia: Endocommensal scuticociliates with slender, bilaterally flattened body; M1 and M2 incorporated into a single structure, i.e. forming an M1-M2-complex; M3 short; paroral membrane short, extending anteriorly to posterior level of M1-M2-complex; apical suture present, cytostome located anterior to equatorial level; no conspicuous caudal bristle; marine forms, within sea urchin digestive tracts.Sathrophilus: Dorsoventrally flattened cinetochilids (?), with Tetrahymena-like buccal apparatus; paroral membrane slightly curved, anteriorly terminated between M1 and M2; a distinctly long caudal bristle; single contractile vacuole posteriorly located.The infraciliature of seven species were revealed for the first time and their neotypes were deposited:Frontonia tchibisovae Burkovsky, 1970, Boveria labialis Ozaki & Ikeda, 1918, Entorhipidium fukuii Uyemura, 1934, Madsenia indomita (Madsen, 1931) Kahl, 1934, Condylostoma minutum Bullington, 1940, Trachelotractus sp. and Diophrys irmgard Mansfeld, 1923.Three species were redescribed based on the Qingdao populations:Paraspathidium fuscum (Kahl, 1928) Fjeld, 1955, Uronema marinum Dujardin, 1841, Trachelotractus entzi (Kahl, 1927) Foissner, 1997.