Jacqueline van Marwijk
Acta Protozoologica, Volume 58, Issue 3, 2019, pp. 141-153
https://doi.org/10.4467/16890027AP.19.014.11915Mobiline taxonomic data is mostly inferred from populations collected in and on hosts associated with aquaculture. Even though these conditions may be conducive for studies relating to the hosts, accurate taxonomic inferences of the symbionts will be problematic. The site for the present study was the Okavango Panhandle region in Northern Botswana, an isolated, natural area with minimal anthropogenic influences. Morphometric and molecular evidence revealed that anuran tadpole trichodinids, up to now reported as Trichodina heterodentata Duncan 1977 and T. hypsilepis Wellborn 1967 from multiple host types, are in fact a new, more host specific species. This study includes comprehensive denticle descriptions of both the anuran hosted trichodinid and the morphologically similar T. hypsilepis restricted to teleost hosts (previously T. heterodentata).