Taxonomy and Phylogeny of Three Species of Dysteria (Ciliophora, Phyllopharyngea) Including the Description of Dysteria ozakii nom. nov

Congcong Wang; Limin Jiang; Zhishuai Qu; Saleh A Al-Farraj; Alan Warren; Xiaozhong Hu

doi:10.1016/j.protis.2021.125831

Taxonomy and Phylogeny of Three Species of Dysteria (Ciliophora, Phyllopharyngea) Including the Description of Dysteria ozakii nom. nov

Protist. 2021 Aug;172(4):125831. doi: 10.1016/j.protis.2021.125831. Epub 2021 Jul 29.

Authors

Congcong Wang¹, Limin Jiang¹, Zhishuai Qu², Saleh A Al-Farraj³, Alan Warren⁴, Xiaozhong Hu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, & College of Fisheries, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China; Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.
² The Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Coastal Ecology and Environmental Studies, Key Laboratory of the Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
³ Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, & College of Fisheries, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China; Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China. Electronic address: xiaozhonghu@ouc.edu.cn.

PMID: 34592569
DOI: 10.1016/j.protis.2021.125831

Abstract

In the last two decades, cyrtophorian ciliates have been revealed to demonstrate a high species diversity. But this group remains difficult to study, mainly because of their low abundance and relatively few taxonomically informative morphological characters. As a contribution to the taxonomy of cyrtophorians, here we investigate three Dysteria species based on their live morphology, ciliary pattern, and molecular phylogeny. Dysteria ozakii nom. nov. can be recognized by its elongate body shape and four right kineties, including three frontoventral kineties. A neotype has to be fixed for the species as no type materials were deposited. The other two species, D. brasiliensis Faria et al., 1922 and D. compressa (Gourret & Roeser, 1886) Kahl, 1931, are redescribed and supplementary information for each is supplied. Phylogenetic analyses based on small-subunit (SSU) rRNA gene sequences support the validity of the species. In addition, four species of bacterial epibionts were observed on the surface of the three Dysteria spp. The identities of these bacterial species are discussed based on the newly obtained 16S rRNA gene sequences.

Keywords: Ciliary pattern; SSU rRNA gene; bacterial epibionts; marine ciliate; molecular phylogeny; morphology.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Ciliophora* / genetics
Phylogeny
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S

Substances

RNA, Ribosomal, 16S