Uronema marinum Dujardin, 1841

Xuming Pan, 2016, Seven scuticociliates (Protozoa, Ciliophora) from Alabama, USA, with descriptions of two parasitic species isolated from a freshwater mussel Potamilus purpuratus, European Journal of Taxonomy 249, pp. 1-19 : 10

Uronema marinum Dujardin, 1841

Remarks and comparison

Kahl’s (1931) original illustrations of Uronema marinum , based on live cells, showed that the cell shape is pyriform and elongate-elliptical in outline. Specimens detailed by Kahl (1931) apparently have distinctive, long extrusomes rather than short and inconspicuous extrusomes as in our specimens. Borror (1963a) first gave a simple illustration of infraciliature of U. marinum , showing more variability (12–15) in the number of somatic kineties than observed in the present study (12–13). Thompson (1964) reported a small marine ciliate, identified as U. marinum , with an even wider range (13–16). Czapik (1964) reported a form named U. marinum , with body dimensions 30–40 μm long vs 10–25 μm long in our population. Our specimens are nearly identical with those of the type population described by Pan et al. (2010) regarding body size (approximately 20 ×10 μm in length), and shape (elongate-elliptical in outline; anterior end flat, with an apical plate, dorsal posterior area slightly rounded).