Vorticella Linnaeus, 1767 (Ciliophora, Oligohymenophora, Peritrichia) is a grade not a clade: redefinition of Vorticella and the families Vorticellidae and Astylozoidae using molecular characters derived from the gene coding for small subunit ribosomal RNA

Recent phylogenetic analyses of the peritrich genus Vorticella have suggested that it might be paraphyletic, with one Vorticella species - Vorticella microstoma grouping with the swimming peritrichs Astylozoon and Opisthonecta in a distant clade. These results were based on very limited taxon sampling and thus could not be accepted as conclusive evidence for revising the generic classification. We tested paraphyly of the genus Vorticella by making a new analysis with a broad range of samples from three continents that yielded 52 new sequences of the gene coding for small subunit rRNA. Our results, together with the available sequences in Genbank, form a comprehensive set of data for the genus Vorticella. Analyses of these data showed that Vorticella microstoma morphotypes, Astylozoon, and Opisthonecta form a well-supported, monophyletic clade, that is distinct from and basal to the family Vorticellidae containing other species of Vorticella. Paraphyly of the genus Vorticella and family Vorticellidae was strongly confirmed by these results. Furthermore, the two clades of Vorticella identified by the SSU rRNA gene are so genetically diverse whereas the genetic distances within the one containing Vorticella microstoma morphotypes, Astylozoon, and Opisthonecta were so slight, which marked it as a separate family that must be defined by molecular characters in the absence of unifying morphological and morphogenetic characters. An emended characterization and status of the genus Vorticella, the families Vorticellidae and Astylozoidae are presented and discussed.