Morphology and Phylogeny of the Soil Ciliate Parabistichella multilineae sp. nov. (Protozoa: Ciliophora: Hypotricha)

The morphology and molecular phylogeny of Parabistichella multilineae sp. nov., which was discovered in soil from Gagye Beach, South Korea, were investigated. The new species is characterized as follows: body size about 200 × 47 µm in vivo, slenderly lanceolate and twisted; two ellipsoidal macronuclei and usually two globular micronuclei; two types of cortical granules; four or five frontoventral rows, of which rows 1 and 2 are conspicuously developed and rows 3 and 4 are fully extended; and caudal cirri are lacking. Phylogenetic analyses based on the SSU rDNA sequences showed that the new species clusters in a soft polytomy with P. variabilis and Uroleptoides magnigranulosus.