Paracineta karunakarani Santhakumari, 1986

Chatterjee, Tapas, Dovgal, Igor, Nanajkar, Mandar & Fernandes, Veronica, 2019, Report of epibiont ciliates (Cilliophora: Suctorea) on pelagic ostracods (Crustacea: Ostracoda) from the Arabian Sea, Zootaxa 4695 (4), pp. 378-384 : 379-380

Paracineta karunakarani Santhakumari, 1986

( Fig. 2A, B )

Material examined: Several specimens on pelagic ostracods Cypridina dentata (Müller, 1906) from stations 14 and 16.

Brief Description: Suctorian ciliate with conical thecostyle, which cover only one third of the cell body and accrete to the substrate by rounded attaching disc. The body is more or less square to rectangular in shape. Clavate tentacles are evenly distributed at the apical body surface. The macronucleus is allantoidal, some irregular, but might look rounded depending upon the viewpoint on the individual. Reproduction by external (exogemmic) budding with formation of single, ellipsoid protomite on the apical body surface ( Fig. 2B ).

Measurements from present find (in μm): (measurements taken from 2 ciliate individuals) body height 57– 78; body width 41–40; thecostyle length 37–123; width of the upper thecostyle part 17–31; width of the basal thecostyle part 11–16; width of the attaching disc 7–11; length of the tentacles 6–21; size of macronucleus 32–71×6–11; size of protomite 31×41.

Host and substrate specificity: Cypridina dentata (Müller, 1906) —a pelagic ostracod ( Santhakumari 1986 b, Padmakumar et al. 2015, present find).

Distribution: West coast of India, the Arabian Sea.

Remarks: This species was first reported by Santhakumari (1986b) from southwest coast of India on an ostracod Cypridina dentata (Müller, 1906) . It was also reported from North Eastern Arabian Sea, 21°59’84” N; 65°59’52”E, on same ostracod ( Padmakumar et al. 2015). The epibiosis of the species on other pelagic ostracod, Euconchoecia aculeata (Scott, 1894) was not observed in investigations of Santhakumari (1986a) and Padmakumar et al. (2015).

Figures

FIGURE 2. A. Paracineta karunakarani Santhakumari, 1986; B. Paracineta karunakarani Santhakumari, 1986, arrow indicating budding; C. Ephelota gemmipara (Hertwig, 1876); D. Lecanophryella satyanandani (Santhakumari, 1986); E. Acineta foetida Maupas, 1881; F. Pelagacineta sp.