title: Morphology, morphogenesis and molecular phylogeny of an oxytrichid ciliate, Rubrioxytricha haematoplasma (Blatterer & Foissner, 1990) Berger, 1999 (Ciliophora, Hypotricha).
abstract: The morphology and morphogenesis of an oxytrichid ciliate, Rubrioxytricha haematoplasma (Blatterer & Foissner, 1990) Berger, 1999, collected from brackish and marine waters in China, were investigated using live observation and the protargol staining method. The main features of the morphogenetic process are: (i) the parental adoral zone of membranelles is retained completely in the proter and the anlage of undulating membranes originates from dedifferentiation of the old structures; (ii) three frontal, four frontoventral, one buccal, five ventral and five transverse cirri are derived from the anlagen of the undulating membranes and the five streaks of frontal-ventral-transverse anlagen in the pattern of 1:3:3:3:4:4 from left to right; (iii) the morphogenesis of the dorsal kineties is simpler than the Oxytricha pattern, i.e. without fragmentation of the dorsal kinety 3 anlagen; (iv) the single caudal cirrus originates from the dorsal kinety 3 anlage on the right side; (v) the two macronuclear nodules fuse into a single mass during the mid-stage of morphogenesis. These features correspond well with Rubrioxytricha indica, indicating that the morphogenetic pattern of Rubrioxytricha is stable. Phylogenetic analysis based on small-subunit rRNA gene sequence data supports the monophyly of the genus Rubrioxytricha, which is nested within the non-Stylonychinae clade.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Protozoology, Key Laboratory of Ecology and Environment Science in Guangdong Higher Education, College of Life Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenping
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, PR China.
authors.forename: Xumiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Marine College, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, PR China.
authors.forename: Lifang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Protozoology, Key Laboratory of Ecology and Environment Science in Guangdong Higher Education, College of Life Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D017756:Aquaculture; D002681:China; D016798:Ciliophora / Q000145:classification* / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D010802:Phylogeny; D061005:Ponds / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA