Loxophyllum meleagris (Müller, 1773) Dujardin, 1841

Vďačný, Peter & Rajter, Ľubomír, 2014, An annotated and revised checklist of pleurostome ciliates (Protista: Ciliophora: Litostomatea) from Slovakia, Central Europe, Zootaxa 3760 (4), pp. 501-521 : 516

Loxophyllum meleagris (Müller, 1773) Dujardin, 1841

Loxophyllum meleagris — Hanuška 1971: 81; Matis & Straková-Striešková 1991: 114; Matis & Tirjaková 1992: 52; Tirjaková 1993: 134; Tirjaková 1997b: 27; Tirjaková 1998: 16; Tirjaková 2001: 16; Tirjaková 2003a: 37; Tirjaková 2004: 7; Krno et al. 2006: 308; Tirjaková & Vďačný 2013a: 671.

Nomenclature. Matis & Straková-Striešková (1991) erroneously ascribed this species to Ehrenberg using “(Ehrb.)” and Matis & Tirjaková (1992) to “ Dujardin, 1841 ” who, however, only combined this species with the genus Loxophyllum .

Main morphological characters (according to Foissner et al. 1995). Length 200–700 × 50–150 µm in vivo. Body lanceolate with narrowly to broadly rounded posterior body end. Macronucleus moniliform with several micronuclei attached. Contractile vacuole dorsal and subterminal with long collecting canal. Two size types of extrusomes distributed along entire ventral margin: type I rod-shaped and about 10 µm long, while type II oblong and only 2.5 µm long; type I also clustered into 10–20 warts on dorsal margin. Somatic ciliary pattern Loxophyllum -like; 19–23 right and 9–11 left kineties.

Distribution. Loxophyllum meleagris was recorded in the Nitra River near the town of Šurany ( Hanuška 1971); in thermal lakes of the Bojnice Spa at 12.5–29.5 °C and pH 6.8–7.1 ( Matis & Straková-Striešková 1991); in the backwaters of the Danube River in Čičov ( Matis & Tirjaková 1992); in the periphyton and benthos of the Turiec River ( Tirjaková 1993); in an oligotrophic stream in the National Nature Reserve Rozsutec, Malá Fatra Mts ( Tirjaková 1997b); in the benthos from a Hron River tributary ( Tirjaková 1998); in the benthos from various localities in the Gidra River ( Tirjaková 2003a); in the benthos and mosses from the Hincov potok and Bystrý potok streams, High Tatra Mts ( Krno et al. 2006; Tirjaková 2001, 2004); in the sediment from the littoral zone of the upper Váh River ( Tirjaková & Vďačný 2013a).