Australocirrus oscitans Blatterer & Foissner, 1988

Min, Kang-San Kim and Gi-Sik, 2018, Brief morphological description of stichotrichid ciliates (Ciliophora: Stichotrichia) from Korea, Journal of Species Research 7 (4), pp. 323-332 : 326-327

5. Australocirrus oscitans Blatterer & Foissner, 1988

( Fig. 5 )

Material examined. Soil sample from Obong-ri, Gangwon Province, Korea (38°20ʹ11ʺN, 128°31ʹ01ʺE), on July 2012 .

Diagnosis. Cell size 140-185 × 90-110 μm in protargol preparations, flexible; 26-34 adoral membranelles; cortical granules lacking; 2 macronuclear nodules with about 2 micronuclei; 18 frontal-ventral-transverse cirri, 3 frontal, 1 buccal, 4 frontoventral, 3 postoral ventral, 2 pretransverse ventral, and 5 transverse cirri; 1 left (18- 25 cirri) and 1 right (18-25 cirri) marginal cirral row; 8 dorsal kineties (4 dorsal and 4 dorsomarginal kineties); 3 caudal cirri.

Remarks. The genus Australocirrus consists of five species. Three species namely, Australocirrus zechmeisterae , A. oscitans , and Rigidocortex octonucleatus , exhibit similar morphological characteristics. Rigidocortex octonucleatus previously belonged to the genus Australocirrus , but it was transferred to the genus Rigidocortex due to its rigid body ( Berger 1999). Australocirrus zechmeisterae differs from A. oscitans and R. octonucleatus mainly by macronuclear nodules (4 in A. zechmeisterae vs. 2 in A. oscitans vs. 8 in R. octonucleatus ).

Deposition. Two slides (NIBRPR0000104093, NIBRPR 0000104094) have been deposited at the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), South Korea.

Figures

Fig. 5. Photomicrographs of Australocirrus oscitans from life (A) and after protargol impregnation (B, C). (A-B) Ventral views. (C) Dorsal view. Scale bars=100 μm.