Redescription of two marine planktonic tintinnids, Eutintinnus apertus (Kofoid & Campbell,1929) Kofoid & Campbell, 1939 and Favella campanula (Schmidt, 1901) Jorgensen, 1934

Abstract

Historically, identification and systematics schemes for tintinnid ciliates have largely been based on lorica features and virtually ignored zooid morphology. However, the polymorphism of this structure due to the life cycle and environmental conditions is known which makes the identification of tintinnid ciliates problematic. In the 1,200 previously reported tintinnid species, only 20 species are described based on the cytological features, including the ciliary pattern revealed by protargol staining. Wehere redescribe two further tintinnid species, Eutintinnus apertus (Kofoid & Campbell, 1929) Kofoid & Campbell, 1939 and Favella campanula (Schmidt, 1901) Jörgensen, 1934 based on the lorica as well as cell features. Eutintinnus apertus can be differentiatedfrom its congeners by having only two macronuclear, one dorsal kinety and two posteriorkineties. Favella campanula can be separated from Favella ehrenbergii (Claparède and Lachmann, 1858) Jörgensen, 1924 whose infraciliature was recently reported by the numbers of somatic kineties as well as collar membranelles.