21398102

not annotated - annotated - LINNAEUS only

Genetic diversity and phylogenetic position of the subclass Astomatia (Ciliophora) based on a sampling of six genera from West African oligochaetes (Glossoscolecidae, Megascolecidae), including description of the new genus Paraclausilocola n. gen.

To more confidently assess phylogenetic relationships among astome ciliates, we obtained small subunit (SSU) rRNA sequences from nine species distributed in six genera and three families: Almophrya bivacuolata, Eudrilophrya complanata, Metaracoelophrya sp. 1, Metaracoelophrya sp. 2, Metaracoelophrya intermedia, Metaradiophrya sp., Njinella prolifera, Paraclausilocola constricta n. gen., n. sp., and Paraclausilocola elongata n. sp. The two new species in the proposed new clausilocolid genus Paraclausilocola n. gen. are astomes with no attachment apparatus, two files of contractile vacuoles, and an arc-like anterior suture that has differentiations of thigmotactic ciliature on the anterior ends of the left kineties of the upper surface. Phylogenetic analyses were undertaken using neighbor-joining, Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood, and maximum parsimony. The nine species of astomes formed a strongly supported clade, showing the subclass Astomatia to be monophyletic and a weakly supported sister clade to the scuticociliates. There were two strongly supported clades within the astomes. However, genera assigned to the same family were found in different clades, and genera assigned to the same order were found in both clades. Thus, astome taxa appear to be paraphyletic when morphology is used to assign species to genera.



Ann file

T1	Species 438 459	Almophrya bivacuolata

N1 Reference T1 Taxonomy:1002334

T2 Species 461 484 Eudrilophrya complanata

N2 Reference T2 Taxonomy:1002332

T3 Species 534 561 Metaracoelophrya intermedia

N3 Reference T3 Taxonomy:1002335

T4 Species 583 601 Njinella prolifera

N4 Reference T4 Taxonomy:1002226

T5 Species 603 630 Paraclausilocola constricta

N5 Reference T5 Taxonomy:1002223

T6 Species 652 677 Paraclausilocola elongata

N6 Reference T6 Taxonomy:1002222