Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology ISSN 1066-5234 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Morphology and Phylogeny of the Soil Ciliate Metopus yantaiensis n. sp. (Ciliophora, Metopida), with Identification of the Intracellular Bacteria Atef Omara,b, Qianqian Zhanga, Songbao Zoua,c & Jun Gonga,c a Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Matter Cycles, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China b Department of Zoology, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71524, Egypt c University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Keywords ABSTRACT Anaerobic ciliates; Armophorea; digestion- resistant bacteria; Metopus contortus; The morphology and infraciliature of a new ciliate, Metopus yantaiensis n. sp., Metopus hasei. discovered in coastal soil of northern China, were investigated. It is distin- guished from its congeners by a combination of the following features: nuclear Correspondence apparatus situated in the preoral dome; 18–21 somatic ciliary rows, of which J. Gong, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone three extend onto the preoral dome (dome kineties); three to five distinctly Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, elongated caudal cilia, and 21–29 adoral polykinetids. The 18S rRNA genes of Yantai 264003, China this new species and two congeners, Metopus contortus and Metopus hasei, Telephone number: +86-535-2109123; were sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. The new species is more clo- FAX number: +86-535-2109000; sely related to M. hasei and the clevelandellids than to other congeners; both e-mail:
[email protected] the genus Metopus and the order Metopida are not monophyletic. In addition, the digestion-resistant bacteria in the cytoplasm of M. yantaiensis were identi- Received: 13 January 2017; revised 2 March fied, using a 16S rRNA gene clone library, sequencing, and fluorescence 2017; accepted March 8, 2017.