Sterkiella tricirrata (Buitkamp, 1977) Berger, 1999

Kim, Ji Hye & Jung, Ji Hye Moon and Jae-Ho, 2018, New records of 24 ciliate species (Protozoa, Ciliophora) collected in South Korea, Journal of Species Research 7 (4), pp. 291-314 : 294-297

5. Sterkiella tricirrata (Buitkamp, 1977) Berger, 1999

( Table 1, Fig. 5 )

Material examined. Terrestrial moss collected from Gagye Shore , Geumgye-ri , Gogun-myeon, Jeollanamdo, Korea (34°25 ʹ 42 ʺ N, 126°21 ʹ 05 ʺ E) on July 7, 2016 .

Diagnosis. Body size 85-100 × 35-45 μm in vivo, 57- 90 × 24-45 μm after protargol impregnation; elliptical shape; colorless; one contractile vacuole on left side of mid-body; cortical granule absent; 2 macronuclear nodules and 1-4 micronuclei; 22-29 adoral membranelles; 3 frontal cirri; 1 buccal cirrus; 4 frontoventral cirri; 3 postoral ventral cirri; 2 pretransverse ventral cirri; 3 transverse cirri; 15-21 left and 18-23 right marginal cirri; 6 dorsal kineties and 4 caudal cirri.

Morphogenesis. Oral primordium develops slightly above the leftmost transverse cirrus. Origin of the frontal-ventral-transverse primordia as follows: for proter,

primordium I from undulating membranes, primordium II from cirrus II/2, primordium III from cirrus III/2?, primordium IV from cirrus IV/3?, primordium V from cirrus IV/3?, primordium VI from de novo?; for opisthe, primordia I-III from oral primordium, primordium IV from cirrus IV/2?, primordium V from cirrus V/4, primordium VI from cirrus V/4. Both primordia V of the two daughters are connected in a middle stage. Dorsal ciliature follows typical Oxytricha pattern.

Distribution. Cote d’Ivoire, Korea.

Remarks. Sterkiella tricirrata (Buitkamp, 1977) Berger, 1999 is a poorly described species that has three transverse cirri. Kumar et al. (2015) considered that S. tricirrata and S. histriomuscorum could be separated from Sterkiella based on the decreased number of transverse cirri. However, the morphology and molecular data of S. tricirrata are not enough to clarify this issue. Sterkiella tricirrata is distinguishable from S. histriomuscorum in the number of transverse cirri (3 vs. 4 or 5) ( Berger, 1999).

Voucher slides. Two slides of protargol-impregnated specimens were deposited at National Institute of Biological Resources, Korea (NIBRPR0000107896, NIBRPR0000107897).

Figures

Fig. 5. Sterkiella tricirrata in vivo (A-C), protargol impregnated specimen (D-L) and morphogenetic stages (E-L). A. Typical individual to show ellipsoidal body shape (arrowhead indicates contractile vacuole). B. Transverse cirri (arrow). C. Dorsal bristles (arrowheads). D. Ventral view. E. Ventral view of early divider; asterisk indicates a very early divider to show oral primordium. F, H, J. Ventral views of middle dividers. G, I. Dorsal views of middle dividers. K. Ventral view of late divider. L. Dorsal view of late divider. Scale bars=20 μm.