Salpingoeca infusionum Kent, 1880

Lee, Won Je & Patterson, David J., 2000, Heterotrophic flagellates (Protista) from marine sediments of Botany Bay, Australia, Journal of Natural History 34, pp. 483-562 : 487

Salpingoeca infusionum Kent, 1880 (fi gures 1b, 2b)

Description. Loricate choanoflagellate, lorica ovoid, with a pointed posterior end. With a pedicel which is shorter than the lorica. The cell body, which fi lls out the posterior part of the lorica, is about 5 Mm long and 3 Mm wide. Cells attach to the substratum by the pedicel. Two cells observed.

Remarks. This species has been described from subtropical Australia, Denmark, England, France, Gulf of Finland and USA ( Kent, 1880; Griessmann, 1913; Boucaud-Camou, 1967; Norris, 1965; Tong et al., 1997; Tong, 1997c). We identify this species with some uncertainty, but do so because of the close resemblance with individuals given the same name and reported by Tong (1997c) and Tong et al. (1997). Our observations are in accord with the original description of Kent (1880). Salpingoeca infusionum is a senior synonym of S. longipes Kent, 1880 (Boucaud- Camou, 1967; Tong, 1997c). Salpingoeca infusionum resembles S. marina James- Clark, 1867 in general appearance, and some authors regard these taxa as the same ( Boucaud-Camou, 1967; Griessmann, 1913). According to Tong (1997c), the two species can be distinguished by the stiffness of the lorica and because the lorica of S. infusionum is slightly wider anteriorly than that of S. marina . Salpingoeca infusionum is similar to S. inquillata Kent, 1880 in cell length and cell shape, but is distinguished by a slight eversion of the anterior margin of the lorica of S. inquillata . Salpingoeca inquillata is said to be a synonym of S. curvipes Kent, 1880 and S. ringens Kent, 1880 ( Boucaud-Camou, 1967). Many previously reported species assigned to this genus appear very similar and the species taxonomy is unclear (Vørs, 1992a).