title: Redescription of Phacodinium metchnikoffi (Ciliophora, Hypotrichida): general morphology and taxonomic position.
abstract: Living and stained specimens of Phacodinium metchnikoffi, collected near Madrid, Spain, were studied under light microscopy. Infraciliature was stained using a silver-impregnation procedure. The somatic infraciliature is composed of a relatively small number of discontinuous kinetics, formed by groups of few kinetosomes (pallets). The buccal ciliature is composed of an adoral zone of membranelles and a paroral formation otherwise unknown in ciliates, with many short kineties, which lie on a rigid stem. We propose that P. metchnikoffi is a primitive hypotrich and, consequently, we present a new classification system for hypotrichs.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fernández-Galiano
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calvo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016810:Hypotrichida / Q000145:classification*; D010802:Phylogeny