The Taxonomy and Phylogeny of the Poorly known Heterotrich Ciliate Ampullofolliculina lageniformis Hadzi, 1951 (Ciliophora: Heterotrichea)

Ampullofolliculina Hadzi, 1951 is a monotypic genus, the only species being A. lageniformis which was first discovered in estuarine habitats in the U.S. and has never been redescribed. In the present study, we investigated the taxonomy and phylogeny of A. lageniformis Hadzi, 1951 based on analyses of a population collected from a brackish wetland in Ningbo, China. The main characteristics of this species are as follows: trophont about 450-700 mu m long in vivo with two short, rounded peristomial lobes of equal size; lorica flask-shaped, transparent and smooth with a short, wide neck at the base of which two transparent valves are asymmetrically inserted; cortex with brownish to reddish cortical granules and greenish pigment granules; about 80 somatic kineties evenly arranged; moniliform macronucleus with 4-8 ellipsoidal nodules; swarmer dark green, vermiform in shape, about 200-350 mu m long in vivo, with about 60 adoral membranelles and 85 somatic kineties, no mouth nor paroral membrane. Phylogenetic analyses inferred from SSU rDNA sequences show that A. lageniformis is closely related to Folliculina and Eufolliculina which nest within a large clade that comprises five families, i.e. Stentoridae, Blepharismidae, Fabreidae, Maristentoridae, and Folliculinidae.