Ciliates from eutrophized water in the northern Brazil and morphology of Cristigera hammeri Wilbert, 1986 (Ciliophora, Scuticociliatia).
Ciliates occur in all major aquatic and soil environments worldwide and are important links in the microbial food webs, which, along with other free-living protists, are generally overlooked in biodiversity conservation programs. In Brazil, the northern region comprises the Brazilian Amazonia, an area widely known for its huge biodiversity. However, the diversity of ciliates in that region is still almost unknown. As result of the present study, a total of 21 species of ciliates, distributed among 15 genera, were inventoried from samples of eutrophized water collected in the city of Belém, capital of the state of Pará, one of the states which comprise the Brazilian Amazonia. In addition, a local population of the rare scuticociliate Cristigera hammeri is described from optical and electron microscopy observations, and its synonymy with C. pleuronemoides is rejected based on new evidence.
Laboratório de Biologia Molecular "Francisco Mauro Salzano", Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brazil.
Larissa Araguaia Monteiro
LA
de Castro
División Invertebrados, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia", Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Gabriela Cristina
GC
Küppers
Biologisches Institut - Abteilung Zoologie, Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany.
Michael
M
Schweikert
Laboratório de Biologia Molecular "Francisco Mauro Salzano", Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brazil.
Maria Lúcia
ML
Harada
Laboratório de Biologia Molecular "Francisco Mauro Salzano", Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brazil. Electronic address: tpaiva@biologia.ufrj.br.
Thiago da Silva
Tda S
Paiva
D044822:Biodiversity; D001938:Brazil; D016798:Ciliophora / Q000145:classification* / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005068:Eutrophication; D016802:Oligohymenophorea / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013045:Species Specificity; D014867:Water / Q000469:parasitology*
D014867:Water
Amazonia; Oligohymenophorea; Synonymy; Systematics; Taxonomy