Tracheloraphis dracontoides (Bullington, 1940)

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 : 292

1. Tracheloraphis dracontoides (Bullington, 1940)

Borror, 1963 ( Fig. 1 )

Material examined. Marine water (salinity 29‰) collected from Anin Beach , Gangdong-myeon , Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, Korea (37°44 ʹ 4.7 ʺ N, 128°59 ʹ 24.2 ʺ E) on June 7, 2018 .

Diagnosis. Extended body size 800-1000 × 30-40 μm in vivo; body highly contractile and flexible with vermiform shape; 32-38 somatic kineties; glabrous stripe width about 15 μm; single nuclear group centrally locat- ed on main body and composed of 12-18 macronuclei and about 2 micronuclei; 2 types of cortical granules colorless: larger one disc-like shape, diameter about 1.5 μm; smaller one spherical to oval shape, size about 0.4 × 0.6 μm; cortical granules loosely arranged in middle line of glabrous zone; single circumoral kinety and obliquely arranged 2 or 3 brosse kineties.

Distribution. U.S.A., Korea.

Remarks. The Korean population of T. dracontoides is different from the American population in the shape of body cross section (cylindrical vs. bean-shaped) ( Borror, 1963). The closest congener of T. dracontoides is T. aragoi (Dragesco, 1954) Dragesco, 1960 but they differ in the presence of macronuclear crystals (absent vs. present) and the distribution of cortical granules (regularly arranged vs. partially concentrated) ( Foissner and Dragesco, 1996).

Voucher slides. Two slides of protargol-impregnated specimens were deposited at National Institute of Biological Resources, Korea (NIBRPR0000109426, NIBRPR0000109427) and three slides were deposited at the National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea (MABIK PR00043118-PR00043120).

Figures

Fig. 1. Tracheloraphis dracontoides in vivo (A, B) and after protargol impregnation (C-E). A. Living individual to show extended body shape. B. Cortical granulation on glabrous stripe. C. Longitudinally arranged somatic kineties. D. Circumoral kinety(arrowhead) and brosse (arrows). E. Nuclear group. Scale bars=500μm (A); 30μm (B).