Plagiopyla nasuta Stein, 1860

Jung, Atef Omar and Jae-Ho, 2022, New record of five anaerobic ciliate species from South Korea, Journal of Species Research 11 (2), pp. 108-116 : 114

5. Plagiopyla nasuta Stein, 1860 ( Fig. 5 )

Material examined. Freshwater sample collected from Bunhwangji , Nakdong-myeon, Sangju-si, Gyeongsang- buk-do, Republic of Korea (36°23′50.4″N, 128°15′47.7″E) on 26 April 2021 .

Diagnosis. Size about 80-120 × 50-60 μm in vivo, and about 100 × 50 μm after protargol impregnation (n = 7); body ovate, dorsoventrally flattened; striated band commences above oral region curves forming hook-like structure and extends posteriorly to mid-body on left side; a single globular macronucleus in mid-body and a spherical micronucleus attached to it; straight extrusomes about 6 μm long and about 20 μm when exploded; contractile vacuole in posterior body portion; one or two dense ciliary rows on dorsal side left of cytoproct; about 70 somatic ciliary rows, ventral kineties terminate near buccal opening; buccal opening slit like on ventral side and buccal cavity tube-like extends transversely to left.

World distribution. Cosmopolitan ( Roux, 1899; Penard, 1922; Wetzel, 1928; Kahl, 1931; Jankowski, 1964b; Mahajan and Nair, 1971; Bick, 1972; Dragesco, 1972; Agamaliev, 1978; Dragesco and Dragesco-Kerneis, 1986; Sola et al., 1988; Foissner et al., 1995; Şenler and Yildiz, 2004).

Remarks. The Korean population of Plagiopyla nasuta agrees with the most recent description from India ( Nitla et al., 2018). However, this species was described several times ( Penard, 1922; Jankowski, 1964b; Dragesco, 1972; Dragesco and Dragesco-Kernéis, 1986; Sola et al., 1988; Foissner et al., 1995) and some of these descriptions do not agree with the original type population, for example, P. nasuta var. wetzeli from Kahl (1931), which was elevated to P. wetzeli by ( Jankowski, 2007) and considered as P. nasuta again by Nitla et al. (2018). Plagiopyla nasuta and P. simplex Wetzel, 1928 differ from other free-living freshwater Plagiopyla species by the presence of one type of straight extrusomes and they differ from each other by the body size (80-120 vs. 135-150 μm) and the presence (vs. absence) of the striated band ( Wetzel, 1928).

Voucher slide. One slide with protargol-impregnated specimens was deposited at the Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources (NNIBRPR21236).

Figures

Fig. 5. Plagiopyla nasuta in life (A-D), after protargol impregnation (E-G), and in scanning electron microscope (H). A, B. dorsal and ventral view showing the body shape, the shape of the oral opening and the striated band on dorsal side. C, D. Resting (arrows) and extruded (arrowheads) extrusomes. E-G. dorsal (E), Ventral (F), and ventrolateral (G) view, showing the body shape, the shape and position of the oral opening, the striated band (arrow), and the dense ciliary rows left of cytopyge (arrowheads). H. ventral view showing the body shape and the dense somatic ciliation. CV, contractile vacuole; CY, cytostome; MA, macronucleus. Scale bars 20μm (A, B, D-H) and 10 μm (C).