Morphology and morphogenesis of Strongylidium pseudocrassum Wang and Nie, 1935, with redefinition of Strongylidium Sterki, 1878 (Protista: Ciliophora: Stichotrichia)

A population of the rare species Strongylidium pseudocrassum Wang and Nie, 1935, was discovered from a lagoon in the northern region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and its morphology was investigated through protargol-impregnation, scanning electron microscopy and in vivo observations. Morphogenetic events of cell division and physiological reorganization were described for the first time to this species. It was found that S. pseudocrassum has the ventral cirral rows organized in the same manner as Pseudouroleptus caudatus Hemberger, 1985. However two independent primordia VI, one for the proter and other for the opisthe, are generated intrakinetally from the rightmost ventral cirral row. In addition, dorsal kineties replicate entirely “de novo” and do not fragment. Based on the data obtained, the genus Strongylidium was redefined and the species currently assigned to it were classified into five groups according to current knowledge on their ciliature and the combination S. lentum (Biernacka, 1963) nov. comb. is proposed.