AUTHOR=Ma Mingzhen , Li Yuqing , Ma Honggang , Al-Rasheid Khaled A. S. , Warren Alan , Wang Yurui , Yan Ying 

TITLE=Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny of Four Trachelocercid Ciliates (Protozoa, Ciliophora, Karyorelictea) Found in Marine Coastal Habitats of Northern China, With Description of a New Genus, Two New Species and a New Combination

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.615903

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2020.615903

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=<p>The morphology of four trachelocercid ciliates, <italic>Paratrachelocerca typica</italic> gen. nov., spec. nov., <italic>Trachelolophos monocaryon</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">Dragesco, 1965</xref>) comb. nov. (original combination: <italic>Tracheloraphis monocaryon</italic><xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">Dragesco, 1965</xref>), <italic>Tracheloraphis katzae</italic> spec. nov., and <italic>Tracheloraphis colubis</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">Kahl, 1933</xref>) Xu et al., 2011 were studied in live and protargol-stained specimens. All samples were isolated from the intertidal zone of sandy beaches at Qingdao, China. The new genus <italic>Paratrachelocerca</italic> can be distinguished from other trachelocercid genera mainly by the three circumoral kineties each composed of a row of dikinetids and the absence of a brosse or ciliary tuft in the oral cavity. The detailed investigation on the poorly described <italic>Tracheloraphis monocaryon</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">Dragesco, 1965</xref>) reveals that its oral infraciliature includes one uninterrupted circumoral kinety and a conspicuous ciliary tuft in the center of the oral cavity, which is consistent with the genus <italic>Trachelolophos</italic> rather than <italic>Tracheloraphis</italic>. Therefore, this species is transferred to <italic>Trachelolophos</italic> as <italic>Trachelolophos monocaryon</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">Dragesco, 1965</xref>) comb. nov. <italic>Tracheloraphis katzae</italic> spec. nov. can be recognized by the combination of its minute brownish cortical granules and 9–15 somatic kineties. The small subunit (SSU) rDNA of each species was sequenced for the first time. Phylogenetic analyses of the SSU rDNA show that <italic>Paratrachelocerca typica</italic> gen. nov., spec. nov. clusters with <italic>Apotrachelocerca arenicola</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">Kahl, 1933</xref>) Xu et al., 2011 in a group that is sister to all other trachelocercids.</p>