Loricophrya bosporica Sergeeva & Dovgal, 2016

Chatterjee, Tapas, Sautya, Sabyasachi, Dovgal, Igor, Gaikwad, Santosh, Khokher, Sanofar H. & Choudhury, Amita, 2022, Report of deep-sea epibiont ciliates (Ciliophora) from more than 1000 m depth of the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, Zootaxa 5120 (3), pp. 423-434 : 427

Loricophrya bosporica Sergeeva & Dovgal, 2016

( Fig. 2 E–F )

Material examined: One individual found as epibiont on nematode host belongs to the genus Tricoma collected from stn MUC-18, at sediment depth 2–4 cm, water depth 4119 m, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean.

Diagnosis: Marine loricate suctorian with elongate cell body completely covered with a lorica. Stylotheca, conical, characterized by a gradual thickening of the walls toward the lorica aperture. There is a transverse wrinkle in the lower part of stylotheca in some individuals. The lower part of stylotheca, which separated from the upper part by a well-visible septum, slightly longitudinally striated, have thinner walls, finishes by widening (basal disc) that use for the attachment to the host’s body surface. The cell body is attached to the lorica in the mouth with the help of its edges folded inwards. A few clavate tentacles are located at the apical surface of the body. Macronucleus rounded.

Measurements from present find (based on two individuals, in μm): Lorica length 31–37, lorica width 15–16, lorica aperture width 14–16, macronucleus diameter 6–8, length of the tentacles 5–13.

Host and substrate specificity: The species reported as epibiont on nematodes Desmoscolex cf. minutus Claparède,1863 ( Sergeeva & Dovgal 2016); on Metachromadoroides remanei (Gerlach, 1951) ( Ivanova et al. 2017) . Baldrighi et al. (2020) reported the species from nematode worms of genera Desmodora and Desmoscolex Claparède, 1863 . This species is found as epibiont on nematode host belongs to the genus Tricoma (present report).

Distribution: Istanbul Strait’s area, Bosporus region, the Black Sea ( Sergeeva & Dovgal 2016); from methane seep of the Ria Formosa lagoon, Southern Portugal ( Ivanova et al. 2017); Gulf of Naples-shallow vent area and French ( Baldrighi et al. 2020); Arabian Sea, 4119 m depth (present report).

Remarks: The species was found on nematode hosts only and was mentioned as extremophile ( Dovgal & Sergeeva 2016).

Figures

FIGURE 2. A–B. Thecacineta calix (Schroder, 1907) on nematode body; C–D. Actinocyathula homari (Sand, 1899) on nematode body; E–F. Loricophrya bosporica Sergeeva & Dovgal, 2016 on nematode body.