Anteholosticha intermedia (Bergh, 1889) Berger, 2006

Bharti, Daizy & Kumar, Santosh, 2019, Ten new records of Protozoan Ciliates (Protozoa: Ciliophora) from India, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 119 (2), pp. 111-119 : 112

1. Anteholosticha intermedia (Bergh, 1889) Berger, 2006 ( Figure 1A )

Diagnosis of the Indian population (Data based on 11 specimens): Size about 110 × 30 μm in protargol preparations; shape elliptical with body ends rounded, dorsoventrally flattened. Nuclear apparatus composed of about 33 macronuclear nodules mostly arranged at left mid-body. Contractile vacuole in mid-body. Cortex flexible with yellowish granules arranged in rows of 2-4 granules throughout and near cell margins. Buccal cavity wide. Adoral zone occupies about 39% of body length, composed of 31 membranelles. Cirri, on average, composed of three frontal, four buccal,two frontoterminal, fifteen mid-ventral cirral pairs, two pretransverse ventral cirri, six transverse cirri, one left and one right marginal cirral rows composed of 40 cirri each. Caudal cirri absent. Three bipolar dorsal kinety rows.

Material deposited: Two slides including protargol-impregnated specimens have been deposited at the National Zoological Collections of the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India with the following accession numbers Pt. 3935 (12 specimens marked on the slide) and Pt. 4197/3 (6 specimens marked on the slide) .

Occurrence and ecology: The species Anteholosticha intermedia is rather common in both freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. It has been recorded from Denmark, Austria, Italy, Antarctica, USA, Norway, Germany, China, Korea, Hungary, Slovakia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, France, Scotland, Poland, Costa Rica, Brazil, England, Spain, and Caspian Sea ( Berger, 2006). The present study reports its presence from water and soil samples collected from the Flamingo Bird Sanctuary (19°05’37’’N 72°35’38’’E and 19°05’37’’N 72°35’42’’E). The soil sample was collected from a Bird watching area which contained grassland, small shrubs and trees; water sample was collected from small puddles slightly distant from the Bird watching area. It feeds on flagellates, bacteria, amoeba and small ciliates .

Figures

Figure 1. Photomicrographs of protargol impregnated specimens. A. Anteholosticha intermedia. B. Rigidosticha italiensis, arrowhead marks the paroral membrane. C. Monomicrocaryon balladyna. D. Urosoma karinae. E. Diophrys oligothrix. AZM, adoral zone of membranelles; BC, buccal cirrus; CC, caudal cirri; LM, left marginal row; MA, macronuclear nodules; MI, micronuclei; MVP, midventral cirral pairs; RM, right marginal row; TC, transverse cirri. Scale bars 40 μm (A, B, D), 20 μm (C, E).