The spathidiids belong to the ciliate subclass Haptoria (Protozoa,
Ciliophora), that is, they are predators using toxicysts to
overwhelm the prey. Spathidiid ciliates prefer terrestrial and
semisterrestrial habitats, but many occur also in freshwater, and
some are marine.
Over 200 nominal spathidiid species have been described,
sometimes based on seemingly minute differences. Thus, many
protozoologists considered them as indeterminable and claimed for a
detailed revision. The present monograph carefully revises the
taxonomy, nomenclature, and ecology of all nominal species and
shows that spathidiid diversity has been greatly underestimated.
Based on the reinvestigation of described species with modern
methods (silver impregnation, scanning electron microscopy) and the
first description of over 50 new species, the family Spathidiidae
is split into four families and 20 genera. Each species is
described and figured in detail, making it unnecessary to go back
to the original literature often difficult to obtain. Two
identification keys are provided, viz., one for taxonomists and
another, simple key for users not specifically trained in ciliate
taxonomy.
This first part of the monograph contains the families
Protospathidiidae, Arcuospathidiidae, and Apertospathulidae. The
second part will contain the family Spathididae and a new family,
the Pharyngospathidiidae. This monograph is part of our attempt to
revise the free-living ciliates. The colpodids (Foissner 1993), the
stichotrichine spirotrichs (Berger 1999, 2005), and the oligottichs
(Agatha, in press) are already available or will be available
soon.
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