Morphological reports of four ciliates (Ciliophora) from coastal marine and brackish water habitats in Korea

Abstract

Ciliates, including free­living and symbiotic species, have adapted to diverse habitats, such as freshwater, seawater, soil, moss, and deserts (Lynn and Small, 2002; Xu et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2013). The number of un­ reported species is estimated to be 27,000­40,000, but only 4,500 free­living and morphologically valid ciliate species have been identified worldwide (Foissner et al., 2008). The approximately 200 ciliate species (including par­ asitic ciliates) identified in South Korea to date mostly belong to the class Spirotrichea (84.7%; Park, 2014). Therefore, we focused on the identification of ciliate species that belong to other classes, i.e., Phyllopharyn­ gea, Heterotrichea, and Oligohymenophorea, instead of well­known taxa.