AUTHOR=Wu Tong , Wang Zhe , Duan Lili , El-Serehy Hamed , Al-Farraj Saleh A. , Warren Alan , Liu Yujie , Wang Chundi , Lu Borong 

TITLE=The Morphology, Taxonomy, and Phylogenetic Analyses of Five Freshwater Colonial Peritrich Ciliates (Alveolata, Ciliophora), Including the Descriptions of Two New Species

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.718821

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.718821

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The morphology and phylogeny of two new sessilid species, <italic>Zoothamnium weishanicum</italic> n. sp. and <italic>Epicarchesium sinense</italic> n. sp., two insufficiently known species, <italic>Zoothamnium arbuscula</italic><xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">Ehrenberg, 1831</xref> and <italic>Zoothamnium hentscheli</italic><xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B41">Kahl, 1935</xref>, and a well-known species, <italic>Carchesium polypinum</italic> (Linnaeus, 1767) <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">Ehrenberg, 1838</xref>, collected from freshwater habitats of China, were investigated. <italic>Zoothamnium weishanicum</italic> n. sp. is characterized by its inverted bell-shaped zooids, double-layered peristomial lip, alternately branched stalk, and two different-length rows in infundibular polykinety 3 (P3). <italic>Epicarchesium sinense</italic> n. sp. is recognized by its asymmetric-pyriform zooids, single-layered peristomial lip, conspicuous cortical blisters on the pellicle, dichotomously branched stalk, and P3 containing one short inner row and two long outer rows. Based on previous and newly obtained data of the three known species, improved diagnoses and redescriptions are provided including, for the first time, data on the infraciliature of <italic>Z. arbuscula</italic> and <italic>Z. hentscheli</italic>. In addition, we analyzed the phylogeny of each species based on SSU rDNA sequence data.</p>