Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny of a New Hypotrich Ciliate, Pseudourostyla guizhouensis sp. nov. from Southern China, with Notes on a Chinese Population of Hemicycliostyla franzi (Foissner, 1987) Paiva et al., 2012 (Ciliophora, Hypotricha).

The morphology and molecular phylogeny of a soil hypotrich ciliate, Pseudourostyla guizhouensis sp. nov., collected from southern China, were investigated. Pseudourostyla guizhouensis sp. nov. has an elongate elliptical body measuring 180-310 × 65-85 μm in vivo; invariably two right and three or four left marginal rows; six or seven dorsal kineties; adoral zone consisting of 57-70 membranelles; 12-16 frontal cirri, one buccal cirrus, 13-20 midventral pairs, two frontoterminal cirri, two pretransverse cirri, and five to seven transverse cirri. Morphogenesis during physiological regeneration indicates that the marginal rows of each side originate from a common anlage that differentiates into several rows. Molecular phylogenetic analysis based on SSU rDNA sequence data reveals that P. guizhouensis sp. nov. clusters with the type species P. cristata (Jerka-Dziadosz, 1964) Borror, 1972 and that the genus Pseudourostyla is monophyletic. The morphological characters of another soil hypotrich ciliate, Hemicycliostyla franzi (Foissner, 1987) Paiva et al., 2012, are also described based on a Chinese (Guizhou) population.