Species of the genus <em>Balantidium</em> from fish andamphibians: morphometric data

Olga Kornilova; Lyudmila Chistiakova; Ekaterina Yagunova

Authors

Olga Kornilova Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, 48, nab. r. Moyki, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
Lyudmila Chistiakova Saint Petersburg State University, Centre of Core Facilities «Culture Collection of Microorganisms (CCM)», Universitetskaya nab., 7–9, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
Ekaterina Yagunova Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University «LETI», ul. Professora Popova, 5, St. Petersburg, 197376, Russian Federation

Abstract

The genus Balantidium includes about eighty species of ciliates parasitical in various vertebrates and invertebrates. These ciliates were found in the guts of different freshwater and saltwater fishes, amphibians (Anura and Caudata), birds and mammals, as well as in the digestive path of some insects and mollusks. Species of the genus Balantidium were described by the results of the light-optical observations, and now determining of these species is based primarily on morphometric data. We summarized published morphometric data of 42 species of the genus Balantidium — fish and amphibian endobionts. Several groups of Balantidium species were found. All species in the group are similar to each other for all parameters specified in the original description. It is shown that in a differentiation of species of the genus Balantidium it is preferable to use following combination of features: the cell size and the size of macronucleus; vestibulum length to cell length ratio; the number of dorsal and ventral kinets. Refs 30. Figs 1. Tables 4.