Taxonomical reinvestigation of the colepid species Pinacocoleps pulcher (Spiegel, 1926) Foissner et al., 2008 (Ciliophora: Prorodontida: Colepidae)

Brackish water populations of Pinacocoleps pulcher were collected from a lagoon in Korea. This species has never been described using silver impregnation and nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene. In the present study, we investigated the morphological and molecular attributes of P. pulcher using standard methods. The morphology was studied based on observations of live materials, silver-impregnated preparations, and scanning electron microscopy. The morphological characteristics are as follows: body size 80–90 × 40–50 µm in vivo, shape broadly ellipsoidal, body cross-section ellipsoidal, about seven anterior spines and about seven posterior spines, approximately 21 somatic ciliary rows, one macronucleus and one micronucleus, and a single caudal cilium. The SSU rRNA gene tree supports a sister relationship of P. pulcher to the genus Apocoleps, not P. tesselatus.