Morphology and molecular phylogeny of Pseudouroleptus jejuensis nov. spec., a new soil ciliate (Ciliophora, Spirotrichea) from South Korea

Abstract

A new soil ciliate, Pseudouroleptus jejuensis, was discovered from Jeju Island, South Korea and described based on live observation, protargol impregnation, and SSU rRNA gene sequence analyses. Pseudouroleptus jejuensis differs from other congeneric species mainly by number of dorsal kineties (5 vs. 4). Based on our observation of late dividers, we confirm that the dorsal kinety anlage 3 forms 3 kineties (i.e., dorsal kineties 3-5), and the dorsal kinety anlagen 1-3 form 3-5/1-2/0 caudal cirri, respectively. Our gene trees support the assignment of this new species in Pseudouroleptus to full supporting values.