On the morphology, morphogenesis, and argyrome of Disematostoma buetschlii (Ciliophora, Frontoniidae)

Abstract

Disematostoma buetschlii is a lanceolate ciliate about 198–106 × 164–90 μm in size. The nuclear apparatus consists of an elongate macronucleus and three or four spherical micronuclei. The somatic infraciliature is made up of 64–75 kineties arranged asymmetrically, of which five or six rows are postoral. The dorsal polar band is the result of the convergence of the posterior ends of all the dorsal somatic kineties. There is a row of 15–18 pairs of kinetosomes in the middle of this band. The argyrome is a network of small rectangular polygons. The oral infraciliature comprises three peniculi with three, four, and four rows of kinetosomes, respectively, and a paroral membrane that is a stichodyad. This species has four or five vestibular kineties and one contractile vacuole pore. Stomatogenesis is buccokinetal; the oral infraciliature of the opisthe comes from the proliferation of the parental paroral membrane.