Oxytricha paragranulifera Chao et al., 2014

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 : 306

7. Oxytricha paragranulifera Chao et al., 2014 ( Fig. 7 )

Material examined. Terrestrial moss sample collected from Geomundo Island , Samsan-myeon, Yeosu-si, Jeol- lanam-do, Korea (34°1 ʹ 41.60 ʺ N, 127°18 ʹ 44.10 ʺ E) on 11 July 2019 .

Diagnosis. Body size 70-90 × 30-35 μm after protargol impregnation (n = 5); body ellipsoid to ovate in vivo, 2 macronuclear nodules and about 2 micronuclei; cortical granules colorless, densely scattered on dorsal and ventral side, impregnated with protargol; adoral zone of membranelles covered about 30-35% of cell length with about 25 membranelles; 1 right and 1 left marginal row with 26 cirri each; 3 frontal, 1 buccal cirrus, 4 ventral, 3 postoral, 2 pretransverse, and 5 transverse cirri; 6 dorsal kineties and 3 caudal cirri.

Distribution. China and Korea.

Remarks. The Korean population of O. paragranulifera agrees very well with the type population from China ( Shao et al., 2014). However, it has higher number of cirri in the right and left marginal row (26 vs. 18-25 each). Oxytricha paragranulifera is very similar to O. granulifera Foissner and Adam, 1983 but they can be distinguished from each other by the arrangement of cortical granules (short irregular rows vs. long rows along and between dorsal kineties ( Foissner and Adam, 1983; Shao et al., 2014).

Voucher slides. Two slides with protargol-impregnated specimens were deposited at the Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources (NNIBRPR20114, NNIBRPR20115).

Figures

Fig. 7. Photomicrographs of Oxytricha paragranulifera from life (A) and after protargol impregnation (B, C). A. Dorsal view showing the body shape, and the arrangement of the cortical granules. B, C. Ventral (B) and dorsal (C) view showing the ciliature, and the nuclear apparatus. AZM, adoral zone of membranelles; CC, caudal cirri; LMR, left marginal row; MA, macronucleus; PTC, pretransverse cirri; RMR, right marginal row; TC, transverse cirri. Scale bars=20μm.