A New Marine Interstitial Ciliate from the Northwest Atlantic Coast Tracheloraphis primitarum Sp. N. (Ciliophora, Kinetofragminophora, Karyorelictida, Trachelocercidae)

• Published in: The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology
• Main Author: EPSTEIN, SLAVA S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1994
• Subjects: Microbiology; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1550-7408.1994.tb06049.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1550-7408.1994.tb06049.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1550-7408.1994.tb06049.x

ABSTRACT A new species of marine interstitial ciliate, Tracheloraphis primitarum sp. n., is described from intertidal sands (160‐200‐μm medium grain size) along the Northwest Atlantic coast. Living specimens are not transparent under incident light, 0.4‐0.9 mm in length, and are characterized by an elongated body, bulbous anterior and rounded posterior regions. Cytostome is simple without a cleft on the lip. Protargol silver impregnation shows 18‐29 longitudinal kineties. The glabrous zone is very narrow, 6‐7 μm wide, and corresponds to the area occupied by one kinety and two interkinetal spaces. Ten to fifteen kineties terminate against the glabrous zone. Interkinetal extrusomes are present. The nuclear apparatus is a single centrally‐placed nuclear group that consists of three large irregular macronuclei and 2‐3 micronuclei; these are either clustered or encapsulated.