Ref ID : 3864
Phyllis Clarke Bradbury and Lindsay S. Olive; Fine Structure of the Feeding Stage of a Sorogenic Ciliate, Sorogena stoianovitchae gen. n., sp. n. J.Protozool. 27(3):267-277, 1980
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A new species of kinetophragminophoran ciliate, collected from dried vegetation and capable of forming an aerial sorocarp, is described and named Sorogena stoianovitchae gen. n., sp. n. This ciliate is a voracious predator that feeds on species of Colpoda, and, when the latter is depleted in numbers, aggregates to forms sorogens. Each sorogen rises into the air from the surface of the water, forming a secreted stalk with a sorus of cysts at its apex. The feeding stage of the ciliate resembles an Enchelys in that it has an apical, slit-like mouth surrounded by a lip, a somewhat dorso-ventrally flattened body, and meridional kineties. Its length ranges from 40-75 µm and width from 23-55 µm. It has a typical rhabdos type of cytopharynx, but no specialized oral ciliature. The somatic kineties are formed of rows of paired kinetosomes with associated microfibrils, the arrangement of which differs a little from that of other ciliates of this subclass. Sorogena has tentatively been placed in the order Haptorida although it lacks toxicysts, recognizable mucocysts, and clavate cilia. Its unique life cycle and some of the details of its fine structure indicate differences between Sorogena and other haptorids so profound that a new family, SOROGENIDAE, is created for it. The type species (PNG76-73) was collected on dry figs at the Wau Ecology Institute, Papua New Guinea.