Tintinnoinea

ALDER V.A

South Atlantic Zooplankton

Backhuys Publishers

Lugar: Leiden Holanda; Año: 1999; p. 321 - 384

The chapter offers data on the identification and spatial distribution in the South Atlantic (from coast to coast, 0°-60 °S) of the 129 species of Tintinnoinea (Protozoa, Ciliata). It includes: 1) a brief introduction with the most salient systematic and ecological features of this microplanktonic group; 2) a section based on the general morphology of the lorica and the tintinnids’s cell, and some aspects related with their feeding and reproduction; 3) recommendations related with the collection, preservation, preparation and observation of the specimens and counting methods; 4) geographic (horizontal and vertical) distribution patterns with emphasis in the four broad distributional patterns recognized for the South Atlantic and some remarks on the world-wide distribution, and a table with distributional data for each of the 149 taxa recognized for the area 5) taxonomy and identification for the 41 genera, 129 species, 8 varieties and 37 formae, numbers which are the result of combining and/or invalidating many previously described species and genera for the area, a key to the genera of Tintinnoinea recorded in the South Atlantic and a classification scheme based on morphologically similar groups of species according to characteristics that can be easily distinguished by stándar microscope observation. Due to the extensive systematic rearrangements proposed in the present chapter, selected synonymic references for the taxa treated are included. A short diagnosis and a great variety of illustrations (line-drawings mostly including the original description and/or photograps ) for each species, formae and varieties are provided.