Observations on a Rare Ciliate, Discomorphella pectinata (Levander, 1894) Corliss, 1960

ABSTRACT. Specimens of the rare ciliate Discomorphella pectinata (Levander, 1894) Corliss, 1960 were impregnated with silver nitrate in 1963. The body is discoid, about 60 μ m long, laterally compressed and adorned with long spines. The somatic kineties on the right and left sides are sparse, sometimes disorganized, and locally without cilia. The oral zone has a complex infraciliature that lies above two series of ventral kineties and below a large, visor-like, epistomial fringe. The arrangement of this fringe is similar to that observed in some other heterotichous ciliates, notably members of the Metopidae and Caenomorphidae.