%0 Journal Article
%T Life Cycle, Morphology, Ontogenesis, and Phylogeny of Bromeliothrix metopoides nov. gen., nov. spec., a Peculiar Ciliate (Protista, Colpodea) from Tank Bromeliads (Bromeliaceae)
%A Foissner, Wilhelm
%J Acta Protozoologica
%V 2010
%N Volume 49, Issue 3
%P 159-193
%K Central America, division chain, life cycle, macrostome formation, merotelokinetal stomatogenesis, polytomic division, protist endemism, South America
%@ 0065-1583
%D 2010
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/acta-protozoologica/article/life-cycle-morphology-ontogenesis-and-phylogeny-of-bromeliothrix-metopoides-nov-gen-nov-spec-a-peculiar-ciliate-protista-colpodea-from-tank-bromeliads-bromeliaceae
%X Bromeliothrix metopoides was discovered in tank bromeliads from Central and South America. Pure cultures could be established in various media stimulating growth of its food, i.e. bacteria and heterotrophic flagellates of the genus Polytomella. The new ciliate was investigated in the light- and scanning electron microscope, with various silver impregnation techniques, and with molecular methods, using the small-subunit rDNA. The morphology and its changes during the life cycle are documented by 167 figures and a detailed morphometry. Bromeliothrix metopoides is about 27–55 × 22–36 μm in size and has a complex life cycle with Metopus-shaped, bacteriophagous theronts and trophonts (microstomes) and obovate, flagellate-feeding macrostomes having a large, triangular oral apparatus. The thin-walled