Acinetides gruberi Curds, 1985

Chatterjee, Tapas, Sautya, Sabyasachi, Dovgal, Igor, Gaikwad, Santosh, Khokher, Sanofar H. & Choudhury, Amita, 2022, Report of deep-sea epibiont ciliates (Ciliophora) from more than 1000 m depth of the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, Zootaxa 5120 (3), pp. 423-434 : 429

Acinetides gruberi Curds, 1985

( Fig. 3 C–D )

Material examined: One individual found as epibiont on nematode host belongs to the family Microlaimidae Micoletzky, 1922 collected from stn MUC-20, at sediment depth 0–2 cm, water depth 2054 m, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean.

Diagnosis: Marine loricate suctorian ciliate. The lorica (stylotheca) laterally flattened, completely cover the body of the ciliate, with short pseudostyle. The body length is approximately two times the width. The tentacles arranged in two apical bundles. Macronucleus spherical or elongated.

Measurements from present find (based on one individual, in μm): Stylotheca length 133, stylotheca width 34, stylotheca aperture width 42, pseudostyle length 51, body length 81, body width 32.

Host and substrate specificity: Gruber (1884) did not mention any substrate or host. This species was found as epibiont on harpacticoid copepod ( Chatterjee et al. 2020a); on nematode host belongs to the family Microlaimidae (present report).

Distribution: Italy ( Gruber 1884); the Black Sea ( Dovgal 2013); west coast of India, Arabian Sea ( Chatterjee 2020a); Arabian Sea, 2054 m depth (present report).

Remarks: The species was described by Gruber (1884) as Acineta sp. from the water area of the port of Genoa ( Italy) without mentioning the substrate or host and was observed in the Black Sea without mention of locality or substrate ( Keppen 1888; Dovgal 2013). This species was redescribed by Curds (1985a) based on Gruber’s data as Acinetides gruberi Curds, 1985 .

Figures

FIGURE 3. A–B. Loricophrya cf. stresemanni (Allgén, 1951) on nematode body; C–D. Acinetides gruberi Curds, 1985 on nematode; E–F. Trematosoma rotunda (Allgén, 1952) on nematode.