Morphological studies of six free-living spirotrichean ciliates (Protozoa: Ciliophora) with three new records from the coastal South China Sea

The living morphology and infraciliature of six spirotrichous ciliates collected from the coastal South China Sea were investigated using live observation and protargol impregnation.These are Euplotes woodruffi Gaw,1939,Hemigastrostyla enigmatica(Dragesco and Dragesco-Kernéis,1986)Song and Wilbert,1997,Neourostylopsis flavicana(Wang et al.,2011)Chen et al.,2013,Protogastrostyla pulchra(Perejaslawzewa,1886)Gong et al.,2007,Pseudoamphisiella alveolata(Kahl,1932)Song and Warren,2000,and Pseudokahliella marina(Foissner et al.,1982)Berger et al.,1985.Among these,Protogastrostyla pulchra,Pseudoamphisiella alveolata and Pseudokahliella marina are reported from the South China Sea for the first time,which manifest obvious differences apart from other Chinese populations.As new contribution,the detailed description of isolates from mangrove habitat of E.woodruffi and H.enigmatica,and aquaculture pond isolate of N.flavicana,are present.