FRESHWATER CILIATES (PROTOZOA, CILIOPHORA) FROM ARGENTINA: AN ANNOTATED AND UPDATED COMPILATION

KUPPERS, G. C.; CLAPS, M. C.

Frontiers in Biodiversity Studies

Bioscience Publications / Agrobios

Lugar: Krishnagiri ; Año: 2010;

The phylum Ciliophora is considered to be among the most diverse from kingdom Protozoa and include heterotroph, autotroph, and mixotroph microorganisms. Many species are euryoecious and have great adaptability against changing environmental conditions, being able to inhabit a wide range of different kind of habitats. In spite of being a conspicuous group of microorganisms, freshwater ciliates from Argentina have been scarcely studied with modern techniques, such as silver impregnation and scanning electron microscopy. After an exhaustive revision of the literature concerning freshwater ciliates from Argentina, a total of 209 species were found. Sampling efforts were mainly concentrated in the Buenos Aires province, although several surveys were conducted in Córdoba province as well. The Peritrichida are by far the most studied group of ciliates followed by Heterotrichida, Haptorida, and Sporadotrichida. The results in the present checklist show that a wide extension of Argentina is practically unexplored, and further investigations are needed to estimate the still undiscovered diversity of ciliates for the country.