Amphileptus procerus ( Penard, 1922 ) Song & Wilbert, 1989

Vďačný, Peter & Rajter, Ľubomír, 2014, An annotated and revised checklist of pleurostome ciliates (Protista: Ciliophora: Litostomatea) from Slovakia, Central Europe, Zootaxa 3760 (4), pp. 501-521 : 507

Amphileptus procerus ( Penard, 1922) Song & Wilbert, 1989

Amphileptus procera — Matis & Tirjaková 1992: 51.

Amphileptus procerus — Matis & Tirjaková 1995: 247; Tirjaková 1997b: 27; Tirjaková 1998: 15; Tirjaková 2001: 15; Baláži & Matis 2002b: 8; Tirjaková 2006: 9; Tirjaková & Vďačný 2013a: 670.

Hemiophrys procera — Matis 1961: 772.

Litonotus procerus — Tirjaková 1993: 134.

Main morphological characters (according to Song & Wilbert 1989 and Foissner et al. 1995). Length 200– 800 µm in vivo. Body fusiform, posteriorly tail-like; highly contractile. Two macronuclear nodules with a single micronucleus in between. Many scattered contractile vacuoles. Extrusomes rod-like, about 10 µm long, scattered in cytoplasm and forming an anterior cluster in oral bulge. Somatic ciliary pattern Amphileptus -like; about 25–40 right and 7–13 left kineties.

Morphological and taxonomical notes. According to Matis (1961) up to 200 µm long. However, Penard (1922) and Song & Wilbert (1989) recorded much larger specimens, ranging from 600 to 800 µm in length. On the other hand, the length varies from 200 to 800 µm according to Foissner et al. (1995). Since Matis’ (1961) specimens are at or below the lower size limit, we question their conspecificity with A. procerus . Possibly, they are a misidentified A. proceroformis Song & Wilbert, 1989 .

Distribution. Amphileptus procerus was recorded in Ereč during June and December ( Matis 1961); in the backwaters of the Danube River in Čičov ( Matis & Tirjaková 1992); in the periphyton and benthos of the Turiec River ( Tirjaková 1993); in the littoral zone of the Danube River and its through-flowing river arms near the hydroelectric power structures in Gabčíkovo ( Matis & Tirjaková 1995); in an oligotrophic stream from the National Nature Reserve Rozsutec, Malá Fatra Mts ( Tirjaková 1997b); in the benthos from tributaries of the Hron River ( Tirjaková 1998); in the benthos from Javorový potok stream, High Tatra Mts ( Tirjaková 2001); in the pelagial of the Danube River near Hrušov and of the Váh River near Komárno ( Baláži & Matis 2002b); in the spring area of the Hron River ( Tirjaková 2006); in the sediment from the littoral zone of the upper Váh River ( Tirjaková & Vďačný 2013a).