0065-1583 Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie Observations of Apparent Lorica Variability in Salpingacantha (Ciliophora: Tintinnida) in the Northern Pacific and Arctic Oceans Dolan John R. author Yang Eun Jin author Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7093, LOV, Observatoire Océanologique, F-06230, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France; CNRS, UMR 7093, LOV, Observatoire Océanologique, F-06230, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France Korea Polar Research Institute, KIOST, 213-3 Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 406-840, Korea Correspondence to: John R. Dolan Correspondence to: Eun Jin Yang 13 12 2017 Volume 56, Issue 3 2017 217 220 Copyright © 2017 2017 <div id="cke_pastebin">Species identifications of tintinnid ciliates are based on characteristics of the lorica housing the ciliate cell. Molecular characterization of tintinnid ciliates has revealed the occurrence of cryptic species, genetically distinct forms with similar loricas, as well as polymorphic species in which genetically identical forms have distinct loricas. Among this latter category may be forms currently recognized as species of the genus Salpingacantha, erected by Kofoid and Campbell for forms originally described as varieties of species of Salpingella with ‘teeth’ on the margin of the lorica oral opening. Some workers have expressed the opinion that the genus is artificial and notably a recent molecular study suggested that Salpingella and Salpingacantha are likely synonyms. In this short communication we report on finding morphologically distinct loricas (containing ciliate cells) of Salpingacantha in single samples from stations in the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans in 2010, 2015 and 2016. We found up to 5 distinct Salpingacantha forms co-occurring, often with abundant Salpingella acuminata populations suggesting that some Salpingacantha species may be varieties of Salpingella acuminata. While we lack genetic data needed for definitive proof of polymorphism, here we document remarkable gradual gradients in morphology suggestive of polymorphism.</div> 1 Agatha S. (2010) A light and scanning electron microscopic study of the closing apparatus in tintinnid ciliates (Ciliophora, Spirotricha, Tintinnina): a forgotten synapomorphy. J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 57: 297–307 2 Alder V. A. (1999) Tintinnoinea. In: Boltovskoy D. (Ed.), South Atlantic Zooplankton. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, 321–384 3 Brandt K. (1906) Die Tintinnodeen der Plankton-Expedition. Ergebnisse der Plankton-Expedition der Humboldt-Stiftung 3:L.a. 4 Cordeiro T. A., Sassi R. (1997) Tintinnina (Ciliophora, Protista) of the North Sea during the spring of 1986. Helgol. Meeresunt, 51: 155–172 5 Dolan J. R., Pierce R. W. (2013) Diversity and distributions of tintinnids. In: Dolan J. R., Montagnes D.J.S., Agatha S., Coats D.W., Stoecker D.K. (Eds.), The Biology and Ecology of Tintinnid Ciliates: Models for Marine Plankton. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 214–243 6 Dolan J. R., Yang E. J., Lee S. H., Kim S.Y. (2013) Tintinnid ciliates of the Amundsen Sea (Antarctica) Plankton Communities. Polar Res. 32: 19784 7 Jörgensen E. (1924) Mediterranean tintinnids. Report on the Danish Oceanographical Expeditions 1908–10 to the Mediterranean and adjacent Seas. 2 J.3. Biology, 1–110 8 Kato S., Taniguichi A. (1993) Tintinnid ciliates as indicator species of different water masses in the western North Pacific Polar Front. Fish. Oceanogr. 2: 166–174 9 Kim S. Y., Choi J. K., Dolan J. R., Shin H. C., Lee S., Yang E. J. (2013) Morphological and ribosomal DNA-based characterization of six Antarctic ciliate 5 morphopecies from the Amundsen Sea with phylogenetic analyses. J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 60: 497–513 10 Kofoid C. A. (1930) Factors in the evolution of the pelagic ciliata, the Tintinnoinea. in: Contributions to Marine Biology, Stanford University Press, 1–39 11 Kofoid C. A., Campbell A. S. (1929) A Conspectus of the Marine and Freshwater Ciliata Belonging to the suborder Tintinnoinea, with Despcriptions of New Species Principally from the Agassiz Expedition to the Eastern Tropical Pacific 1904–1905. Univ. Calif. Pub. Zool. 34: 1–403 12 Kofoid C. A., Campbell A. S. (1939) The Tintinnoinea of the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl. Harvard Coll. 84: 1–473 13 Pierce R. W., Turner J. T. (1993) Global biogeography of marine tintinnids. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 94: 11–26 14 Santoferrara L. F., Alder V. V., McManus G.B. (2017) Phylogeny, classification and diversity of Choreotrichia and Oligotrichia (Ciliophora, Spirotrichea). Mol. Phylo. Evol. 112: 12–22 15 Travers A., Travers M. (1973) Présence en Méditerranée du genre Salpingacantha Kofoid &amp; Campbell (Ciliés, Oligotriches, Tintinnides). Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer Médit. 21: 425–432