Morphology and phylogeny of a new soil ciliate, Colpodidium zelihayildizae n. sp. (Ciliophora, Nassophorea, Colpodidiidae), from Van, Turkey

A new ciliate species Colpodidium zelihayildizae n. sp., which was discovered in a dry irrigation channel in Van (Turkey), was investigated morphologically using standard live and silver impregnation methods, and its SSU rRNA gene phylogeny was provided. This new species was characterized as follows: body size about 40−60 × 15−20 µm in vivo, elongated ellipsoidal with flat or slightly concave ventral surface; the buccal cavity slightly below equatorial plane; macronucleus spherical or slightly elliptical, usually located in the last third of the cell; cortex distinctly furrowed in the anterior half; 19–22 somatic kineties, 4 postoral kineties; paroral membrane has 20 dikinetids; 3 nassulid organelles (NOs), with NO1 very close to the left edge of the paroral membrane, which consists of 1 dikinetid pair.

Phylogenetic analyses conducted on the SSU rDNA sequences determined that Colpodidium zelihayildizae was clustered with Colpodidium caudatum and formed a clade with Apocolpodidium etoschense and Colpodididae sp.