Research

Publications
Title: The Morphology and Phylogeny of ThreeDiophrysCiliates Collected from the Subtropical Waters of China, Including a New Species (Ciliophora; Euplotia)
First author: Zhang Chaojian; Huang Jie; Ye Tingting; Lu Borong; Chen Xiangrui
Journal: JOURNAL OF OCEAN UNIVERSITY OF CHINA
Years: 2020
Volume / issue: 19 /
DOI: 10.1007/s11802-020-4536-8
Abstract: ThreeDiophrysspecies,D. quadrinucleatan. sp.,D. oligothrixBorror, 1965 andD. scutum(Dujardin, 1841) Kahl, 1932, were identified from the subtropical brackish waters in China, their morphology was investigated using live observation and protargol impregnation.D. quadrinucleatan. sp. can be distinguished from the congeners by four ellipsoidal macronuclear nodules. Phylogenetic analyses show that the three species with single marginal cirrus are closely related, namelyD. quadrinucleatan. sp.,D. apoligothrixSonget al., 2009 andD. japonicaHu, 2008. Our population ofD. oligothrixcorresponds very well with previous populations in both living morphology and ciliature. However, the SSU rDNA sequences of three well-described populations differ from each other by 11 to 18 nucleotides, indicating that there might be cryptic species inD. oligothrix. Moreover, we provided a detailed description of the symbiotic bacteria/archaeobacteria (?) concentrated on the back surface ofD. scutumbased on the present population, which was either overlooked or misinterpreted as cortical granules previously.