Protistology • 14 (4), 227–245 (2020) |
First findings of сentrohelid heliozoans (Haptista: Centroplasthelida) from marine and freshwater environments of South Korea |
Dmitry G. Zagumyonnyi1, Kristina I. Prokina1, Denis V. Tikhonenkov1,2
1Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters Russian Academy of Sciences, 152742 Borok, Russia
| Submitted October 24, 2020 | Accepted December 6, 2020 | Summary The morphology of the siliceous scales and organic spicules of centrohelid heliozoans collected from two river sites and one marine site in South Korea has been investigated. Five species including one subspecies, one centrohelidian identified at the genus level, and Heterophrys-like organisms were examined. New species, Pterocystis jongsooparkii sp. nov. was described. This heliozoan is characterized by the unique morphology of spine scales: lateral wings ornamented by 10–15 transverse slits; the sides of lateral wings are bent into a marginal rim, and distal sides of lateral wings are sharply cut, forming “shoulders”; the distal part of the shaft has several rounded teeth. The SSU rRNA gene phylogeny placed P. jongsooparkii within Pterista as a separate phylogenetic lineage in an unresolved trichotomy with Pterocystidae C and the clade, uniting representatives of Pterocystidae B, Heterophryidae, and environmental sequence Env H10.4. Heliozoan Raphidocystis sp. is distinguished from other Raphidocystis species by the presence of only one type of scales – almost circular plate scales with a slight medial thickening, and was not assigned to any known species. All the species found in this survey are new for South Korea. The present study complements the available information on the centrohelid phylogeny and biogeography. The morphological data obtained from observed species expand our knowledge on the intraspecific variability of centrohelid heliozoans.
Key words: protists, morphology, electron microscopy, skeletal elements, Pterocystis jongsooparkii, 18S rRNA, molecular phylogeny
Address for correspondence: Dmitry Zagumyonnyi. Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters of Russian Academy of Sciences, 142742 Borok, Nekouzskiy district, Yaroslavl Region, Russia; e-mail: zdmitryg@gmail.com |
| Load PDF | Back to Contents | |