Checklist of Korean ciliates (Protozoa: Ciliophora)

Abstract

After the first record of a Korean ciliate in 1931, more than 130 papers have been published describing Korean ciliates. Of these records, the years 1997, 2012, and 2016 include milestone publications in Korea. Even though the publications provide summarized data about Korean ciliates with relevant literature citations, these publications included two nomenclatural errors, two misspellings, and one misidentification; nine species were transferred to other genera. Furthermore, the type specimens deposited in the laboratory of Prof. Joong Ki Choi (Inha University, Korea) were transferred to the National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea (MABIK) because of his retirement. Here, we provide an updated list of 331 Korean species described by 2016 and present information about the type specimens. We also and address the aforementioned problems with bringing together scattered data related to ciliate lists.