Stylonychia cf. notophora, Stokes, 1885

Jung, Atef Omar and Jae-Ho, 2021, New record of 21 ciliate species (Protozoa, Ciliophora) from South Korea, Journal of Species Research 10 (3), pp. 301-320 : 308

9. Stylonychia cf. notophora ( Fig. 9 )

Material examined. Freshwater sample collected from Jukheon Reservoir, Gangneung, Korea (37°46 ʹ 5.6 ʺ N, 128°51 ʹ 40.6 ʺ E) on 23 July 2020 .

Diagnosis. Body size 80-100 × 30-40 μm after protargol impregnation (n = 8); body ellipsoidal, 2 macronuclear nodules and 2 micronuclei each attaching to a macronuclear nodule; adoral zone of membranelles covered about 40-50% of cell length with 37-40 membranelles; undulating membranes in Stylonychia pattern; 1 right and 1 left marginal row with 25-28 and 16-18 cirri, respectively; 3 frontal, 1 buccal, 4 ventral, 3 postoral, 2 pretransverse, and 5 transverse cirri arranged in two groups. 6 dorsal kineties and 3 ordinarily separated caudal cirri.

Distribution. Austria, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chad, China, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Greece, Japan, USA, Venezuela, Korea.

Remarks. The Korean population of Stylonychia notophora agrees with the description of Buchar (1957) and Dragesco and Dragesco-Kernéis (1986). However, they differ in the arrangement and length of the caudal cirri (ordinary vs. close together and about 25% of body length) and the number of adoral membranelles (37- 40 vs. 33-36) ( Buchar, 1957; Berger, 1999). Stylonychia notophorides Foissner, 2016 is also very similar to the present species but differs mainly in the very long (vs. ordinary) caudal cirri, the number of adoral membranelles (24-29 vs. 37-40), and the number of cirri in the right and left marginal row (9-16, 9-12 vs. 25-28, 16-18, respectively) ( Foissner, 2016).

Voucher slides. Two slides with protargol-impregnated specimens were deposited at the Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources (NNIBRPR20118, NNIBRPR20119).

Figures

Fig. 9. Photomicrographs of Stylonychia cf. notophora after protargol impregnation (A, B). Ventral (A) and dorsal (B) view showing the body shape somatic and oral ciliature. AZM, adoral zone of membranelles; BC, buccal cirrus; CC, caudal cirri; FC, frontal cirri; LMR, left marginal row; MA, macronucleus; MI, micronucleus; PTC, pretransverse cirri; RMR, right marginal row; TC, transverse cirri. Scale bars=30μm.