Morphological and molecular evidence on the existence of a single estuarine and rocky intertidal acanthocephalan species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Profilicollis</Emphasis> Meyer, 1931 (Acanthocephala: Polymorphidae) along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of southern South America

Profilicollis chasmagnathi Holcman-Spector, Mañé-Garzón & Dei-Cas, 1977 (Acanthocephala: Polymorphidae) has been reported to parasitise different grapsid species as intermediate hosts along the South Atlantic shores, i.e. Cyrtograpsus angulatus (Dana) and Neohelice granulata (Dana) in Uruguay and Cyrtograpsus altimanus (Rathbun) in Argentina. Larvae of a similar acanthocephalan described as Profilicollis antarcticus Zdzitowiecki, 1985 were recorded in the crab Hemigrapsus crenulatus (Milne-Edwards) from an estuarine habitat on the Southeast Pacific shore in Chile. Earlier studies have questioned the specific assignation of the Chilean estuarine populations of Profilicollis Meyer, 1931. The aim of this study was to re-examine the identification of these acanthocephalans by means of morphological and molecular analyses of cystacanths of Profilicollis spp. gathered from C. angulatus, N. granulata, C. altimanus and H. crenulatus. Our analyses showed that a single species of Profilicollis, P. chasmagnathi, parasitises these four crab species. The assessment of specimens from the South Shetlands Islands, the type-locality of P. antarcticus, is needed before formally proposing that P. antarcticus is a junior subjective synonym of P. chasmagnathi.     

Rhodopseudomonas globiformis,sp. n., a new species of the Rhodospirillaceae

Enrichments of pH: 5.1, inoculated from a warm, acidic sulfur spring of the Yellowstone Park, yielded purple red cultures of a mobile, spherical organism belonging to the Rhodospirillaceae, described herein as a new species Rhodopseudomonas globiformis. Under favourable conditions, the cells are 1.6–1.8 μm in diameter, smaller and larger cells may occur. The photopigments consist of bacterio-chlorophyll a_P and new aliphatic methoxylated ketocarotenoids. The organism grows either under anaerobic conditions in the light or under microaerophilic conditions in the dark. Biotin, p-aminobenzoic acid and a source of reduced sulfur are required as growth factors. Gluconate, mannitol, fructose and ethanol are the best carbon sources at a pH of 4.9. Growth is inhibited by low concentrations of sulfide.     

A description of seven Antarctic marine gymnamoebae including a new subspecies, two new species and a new genus: Neoparamoeba aestuarina antarctica n. subsp., Platyamoeba oblongata n. sp., Platyamoeba contorta n. sp. and Vermistella antarctica n. gen. n. sp

Seven marine gymnamoebae were isolated from different environments of seawater, slush (pack ice meltwater), and sediment in the Ross Sea area of Antarctica. All amoebae were isolated and maintained at temperatures below 4 degrees C. Growth, rate of locomotion, and general morphology were observed at an environmentally appropriate temperature (1 degrees C) and at room temperature (approximately 25 degrees C). Molecular (srDNA sequences) and microscopical techniques were used to identify the gymnamoebae and establish their phylogenetic affinities. Three isolates (S-131-2, SL-200, and W4-3) were assigned to a psychrophilic subspecies of Neoparamoeba aestuarina, N. aestuarina antarctica n. subsp., one isolate (S-205) was assigned to a new species of Platyamoeba, P. oblongata n. sp., two isolates (W51C#4 & W51C#5) were also assigned to a new species of Platyamoeba, P. contorta n. sp., and one isolate (S-241) was a novel psychrophilic gymnamoeba Vermistella antarctica n. gen. n. sp. Molecular and morphological results revealed that V. antarctica was not related to any described family of gymnamoebae. Strains S-205, W51C#4, and W51C#5 were capable of locomotion at room temperature, while strains SL-200, S-131-2, W4-3, and S-241 exhibited locomotion only below approximately 10 degrees C. Our results imply that the Antarctic environment is host both to cosmopolitan gymnamoebae that have acquired adaptations for existence at low environmental temperature and to apparently novel psychrophilic amoebae described here for the first time.     

Andracantha, a new genus of Acanthocephala (Polymorphidae) from fish-eating birds, with descriptions of three species.

Problems in taxonomy of the Polymorphidae are discussed, with particular reference to trunk spines. Andracantha gen. n. is proposed for species with genital spines and 2 fields of trunk spines. Corynosoma gravida Alegret 1941, C. mergi Lundstro?m 1941 and C. phalacrocoracis Yamaguti 1939 are redescribed and placed in Andracantha, with A. gravida (Alegret, 1941) comb. n. designated as type species.     

Myosporidium merluccius n. g., n. sp. infecting muscle of commercial hake (Merluccius sp.) from fisheries near Namibia

A new species of Microsporidia classified to a new genus was observed in the trunk muscle of commercial hake (Merluccius capensis/paradoxus complex) from Namibian fisheries. Macroscopic examination revealed thin and dark filaments inserted among muscle fibers. Inside the filaments were many sporophorous vesicles with about 30-50 spores per vesicle. The shape of the spore was pyriform and the extruded polar filament was of moderate length (up to 4.29 microm, n=12). This new species of Microsporidia is described using macrophotography, microphotography, staining, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), as well as molecular methods. Its 16S rRNA was found to be similar to that of Microsporidium prosopium Kent et al., 1999, while both sequences were quite different from 16S rRNA sequences known for other Microsporidia. Nevertheless, this new species is separated morphologically from M. prosopium by the presence of 11-12 anisofilar coils and the formation of the xenoma at the site of infection. Type species.     

Description of Pomphorhynchus spindletruncatus n. sp. (Acanthocephala: Pomphorhynchidae) from freshwater fishes in northern Iraq,with the erection of a new pomphorhynchid genus,Pyriproboscis n. g., and keys to genera of the Pomphorhynchidae and the species of Pomphorhynchus Monticelli, 1905

The status of species of Pomphorhynchus Monticelli, 1905 is examined and 23 species are recognised as valid. These include P. spindletruncatus n. sp., which is described herein from two species of freshwater fishes in northern Iraq, Aspius vorax Heckel and Barbus xanthopterus (Heckel) (Cyprinidae). Only one other species, P. yunnanensis Wang, 1981, has a spindle-shaped trunk similar to that of P. spindletruncatus, but is distinguished from it by a distinctly different proboscis armature. A key separating the new taxon from other species of Pomphorhynchus is included. P. heronensis Pichelin, 1997 is reassigned to a new pomphorhynchid genus, Pyriproboscis n. g., based on its unique proboscis shape and armature, short proboscis receptacle and tubular cement glands. A key to the genera of the Pomphorhynchidae is also included.     

A new acanthocephalan family, the Isthmosacanthidae (Acanthocephala: Echinorhynchida), with the description of Isthmosacanthus fitzroyensis n. g., n. sp. from threadfin fishes (Polynemidae) of northern Australia

Isthmosacanthus fitzroyensis n. g., n. sp. is described from two species of protandrous fish, Eleutheronema tetradactylum (Shaw) and Polydactylus macrochir (Günther), from the waters around the coast of northern Australian. The new species can be distinguished from all others by the following combination of characters: proboscis shape and armature (22 rows of 13-14 hooks), short neck, trunk spined anteriorly and having two swellings (one bulbous) with a narrow isthmus in between, long tubular lemnisci and six tubular cement glands. Although I. fitzroyensis has been confused with a species of Pomphorhynchus Monticelli, 1905 in the literature, it can be distinguished from all pomphorhynchids, including species of Longicollum Yamaguti, 1935 and Pyriproboscis Amin, Abdullah & Mhaisen, 2003, by the suite of characters listed above. The placement of the species of Pyriproboscis in the Pomphorhynchidae Yamaguti, 1939 is problematical, because it has a short neck, two distinct hook types comprising the proboscis armature and only two rather than six cement glands. A new family, the Isthmosacanthidae n. fam., is erected to contain Isthmosacanthus together with Gorgorhynchoides Cable & Linderoth, 1963 and Golvanorhynchus Noronha, Fabio & Pinto, 1978, genera having an elongate to clavate proboscis, anterior trunk spines, elongate lemnisci, and six tubular cement glands. The validity of this determination, based on the importance of cement gland number and phylogenetic analysis, is argued.     

Praealbonemertes whangateaunienses n. gen. and n. sp., a new heteronemertean from New Zealand

Abstract

A new genus and species of heteronemertean, Praealbonemertes whangateaunienses n. gen. and n. sp., is described and illustrated. The species is characterised by inter alia a cephalic lacuna with strands of longitudinal muscle fibres, a proboscis with three muscle layers, and a well-developed muscle plate dorsal to the foregut and anterior intestine. The material was collected in New Zealand.     

Cthulhu Macrofasciculumque n. g., n. sp. and Cthylla Microfasciculumque n. g., n. sp., a Newly Identified Lineage of Parabasalian Termite Symbionts

The parabasalian symbionts of lower termite hindgut communities are well-known for their large size and structural complexity. The most complex forms evolved multiple times independently from smaller and simpler flagellates, but we know little of the diversity of these small flagellates or their phylogenetic relationships to more complex lineages. To understand the true diversity of Parabasalia and how their unique cellular complexity arose, more data from smaller and simpler flagellates are needed. Here, we describe two new genera of small-to-intermediate size and complexity, represented by the type species Cthulhu macrofasciculumque and Cthylla microfasciculumque from Prorhinotermes simplex and Reticulitermes virginicus, respectively (both hosts confirmed by DNA barcoding). Both genera have a single anterior nucleus embeded in a robust protruding axostyle, and an anterior bundle flagella (and likely a single posterior flagellum) that emerge slightly subanteriorly and have a distinctive beat pattern. Cthulhu is relatively large and has a distinctive bundle of over 20 flagella whereas Cthylla is smaller, has only 5 anterior flagella and closely resembles several other parababsalian genera. Molecular phylogenies based on small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) show both genera are related to previously unidentified environmental sequences from other termites (possibly from members of the Tricercomitidae), which all branch as sisters to the Hexamastigitae. Altogether, Cthulhu likely represents another independent origin of relatively high cellular complexity within parabasalia, and points to the need for molecular characterization of other key taxa, such as Tricercomitus.     

Clavaptera ornata n.gen. et sp., a new genus and species of Carventinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Aradidae) from Northland,New Zealand

Abstract

Clavaptera ornata gen. et sp. n. from leaf-litter from North Cape, Northland, New Zealand, is described and figured. This new genus falls within Group 1 of the Carventinae as proposed by Usinger & Matsuda (1959), and shares some characteristics of Carventaptera and Neocarventus, but it is readily distinguished from these genera by the medial fusion of the mesothorax and metathorax and the presence of a large hexagonal median prominence in the region of fusion. The holotype male was collected in leaf-litter near Serpentine access road, 4 miles from Spirits Bay road and the allotype from the Tapotupotu Stream area, at the base of Cape Reinga.     

Description of two species of early branching dinoflagellates, Psammosa pacifica n. g., n. sp. and P. atlantica n. sp

In alveolate evolution, dinoflagellates have developed many unique features, including the cell that has epicone and hypocone, the undulating transverse flagellum. However, it remains unclear how these features evolved. The early branching dinoflagellates so far investigated such as Hematodinium, Amoebophrya and Oxyrrhis marina differ in many ways from of core dinoflagellates, or dinokaryotes. Except those handful of well studied taxa, the vast majority of early branching dinoflagellates are known only by environmental sequences, and remain enigmatic. In this study we describe two new species of the early branching dinoflagellates, Psammosa pacifica n. g., n. sp. and P. atlantica n. sp. from marine intertidal sandy beach. Molecular phylogeny of the small subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNA and Hsp90 gene places Psammosa spp. as an early branch among the dinoflagellates. Morphologically (1) they lack the typical dinoflagellate epicone-hypocone structure, and (2) undulation in either flagella. Instead they display a mosa?c of dinokaryotes traits, i.e. (3) presence of bi-partite trychocysts; Oxyrrhis marina-like traits, i.e. (4) presence of flagellar hairs, (5) presence of two-dimensional cobweb scales ornamenting both flagella (6) transversal cell division; a trait shared with some syndineansand Parvilucifera spp. i.e. (7) a nucleus with a conspicuous nucleolus and condensed chromatin distributed beneath the nuclear envelope; as well as Perkinsus marinus -like features i.e. (8) separate ventral grooves where flagella emerge and (9) lacking dinoflagellate-type undulating flagellum. Notably Psammosa retains an apical complex structure, which is shared between perkinsids, colpodellids, chromerids and apicomplexans, but is not found in dinokaryotic dinoflagellates.     

Tunicothrix rostrata n. g., n. sp., a new urostylid ciliate (Ciliophora, Stichotrichia) from the Yellow Sea

The morphology and infraciliature of a new ciliate, Tunicothrix rostrata n. g., n. sp., isolated from the Yellow Sea, are investigated using live observation and protargol impregnation. Tunicothrix rostrata measures about 160 x 40 mum in vivo, and has a frontal beak-like protrusion, a conspicuous cortical alveolar layer, two right marginal rows, and usually three distinct midventral pairs. The discovery of T. rostrata enables us to reconsider the classification of Erniella wilberti, a curious ciliate with obscure midventral pairs. Both species are highly similar in overall appearance and nuclear and ciliary pattern. Thus, they are united in a new genus of the family Urostylidae, Tunicothrix, and E. wilberti is transferred to Tunicothrix: Tunicothrix wilbertiLin and Song, 2004 n. comb. By contrast, Erniella filiformis, type species of Erniella, has several ventral rows and does not belong to the urostylids. Tunicothrix rostrata is easily distinguished from T. wilberti by its beak-like anterior protrusion and by the distinctly elongated right marginal row 2, which curves anteriorly on the dorsal side of the cells. Tunicothrix is closely related to Parabirojimia, differing by the invariably two (vs. five-eight) right marginal rows and the conspicuous (vs. ordinary) alveolar layer, a unique feature in urostylid ciliates.     

Erhardorina n. g., Ascogregarina polynesiensis n. sp., Eimeria golemanskii n. sp., Isospora tamariscini n. sp., Gregarina kazumii n. nom., new combinations and emendations in the names of apicomplexan protozoa

On the basis of a review of the approximately 4300 species of apicomplexan protozoa, the following new species, new names, new combinations, and emendations are given: NEW GENUS, Erhardovina; NEW SPECIES, Ascogregarina polynesiensis, Eimeria golemanskii, Isospora tamariscini; NEW NAME, Gregarina kazumii; NEW COMBINATIONS, Ascogregarina brachyceri (Purrini, 1980), Erhardovina euzeti (Lipa, 1981), E. scutovertexi (Erhardová, 1955), Haemorhormidium batrachi (Chaudhuri & Choudhury, 1983); EMENDATIONS, Selenidium francianum (Arvy, 1952) Tuzet & Ormières, 1965, Pyxinioides bolitoides D. P. Henry, 1938, P. japonicus H. Hoshide, 1951, P. kamenote H. Hoshide, 1951, P. kurofuji H. Hoshide, 1951, P. oshoroensis H. Hoshide, 1951, P. pugetensis D. P. Henry, 1938, Gregarina levinei Haldar & Sarkar, 1980, Retractocephalus halticae Haldar, Chakraborty & Kundu, 1982, Cnemidospora schizophylli Tuzet & Guerin, 1947, Grebneckiella indica (Merton, 1911) Watson, 1916, Quadruspinospora atractomorphae Haldar & Chakraborty, 1978, Haemogregarina acipenseri Nawrotzky, 1914, H. lobianci Yakimov & Kohl-Yakimov, 1912, H. yakimovikohlae Wladimiroff, 1910, Hepatozoon luehi (Sambon, 1909) Pessoa, Cavalheiro & de Souza, 1970, Eimeria beyerae Ovezmukhammedov, 1977, E. (?) gigantea (Labbé, 1896) Reichenow, 1921, E. (?) labbei Hardcastle, 1943, E. rufi Prasad, 1960, E. (?) scylii (Drago, 1902) Levine & Becker, 1933, Isospora corvi Ray, Shivnani, Oommen & Bhaskaran, 1952, I. melopsittaci Bhatia, Chauhan, Arora & Agrawal, 1973, I. seicerci Ray, Shivnani, Oommen & Bhaskaran, 1952, I. stomatici Chakravarty & Kar, 1944, I. triffitae Nukerbaeva & Svanbaev, 1973, Wenyonella mackinnonae Misra, 1947, Octosporella sanguinolentae Ovezmukhammedov, 1975, Lankesterella millani Alvarez Calvo, 1975, Sarcocystis woodhousei Dogel', 1916, Haemoproteus lari Yakunin, 1972, Babesia ninakohlyakimovae (Yakimoff & Shokhor, 1916), Theileria ninakohlyakimovae (Yakimov, 1916) Krylov, 1974, Haemohormidium batrachi (Chaudhuri & Choudhury, 1983).     

Ontogeny and molecular phylogeny of a new marine ciliate genus,Heterokeronopsis g. n. (Protozoa,Ciliophora, Hypotricha), with description of a new species

The morphology and morphogenesis of a new ciliate, Heterokeronopsis pulchra g. n., sp. n., isolated from a mangrove wetland near Shenzhen, southern China, were investigated using live observation and protargol impregnation methods. Heterokeronopsis g. n. is characterized by having a bipartite adoral zone, an extremely shortened paroral membrane, frontal cirri arranged in an indistinct bicorona, a midventral complex composed of midventral pairs and midventral row(s), one left and one right marginal row, bipolar dorsal kineties, and buccal cirri; frontoterminal, transverse, and caudal cirri are absent. The single species H. pulchra sp. n. has a long, slender body that is brownish in colour, two kinds of cortical granules, one posteriorly located contractile vacuole, one buccal cirrus, usually six frontal cirri, three dorsal kineties, and one midventral row. The main morphogenetic features are: (i) the old oral apparatus is completely replaced by new structures derived from the oral primordium of the proter which originates de novo on the dorsal wall of the buccal cavity, (ii) the posteriormost frontal-midventral-transverse cirral anlage generates a midventral row, (iii) no frontoterminal and transverse cirri are formed, (iv) the anlagen for the marginal rows and the dorsal kineties are formed intrakinetally, and (v) the macronuclear nodules fuse into a mass at the middle stage. Phylogenetic analyses based on SSU rRNA gene sequence data reveal that Heterokeronopsis pulchra is a member of the family Pseudokeronopsidae and is most closely related to Nothoholosticha fasciola.     

Iranotrichia gen. n., a new genus of Scenopinidae (Diptera) from Iran, with a key to window fly genera of the world

An unusual new genus of Scenopinidae, Iranotrichia gen. n., comprising two newly discovered species (Iranotrichia insolita sp. n. and Iranotrichia nigra sp. n.), is described from Iran. Iranotrichia gen. n. are scenopinine window flies with a habitus reminiscent of certain bee fly genera (Bombyliidae), based on colouration and elongate mouthparts and antennae. The phylogenetic placement of this distinctive new genus is discussed and a dichotomous key to world genera is presented. The genus name Kelseyana nom. n. is proposed to replace Caenoneura Kröber, 1924, which was found to be preoccupied by Thomson (1870: 270) (Hymenoptera) and Kirby (1890: 136) (Odonata).