The first part of the 250 year history of tintinnid studies, “Pioneers of Tintinnid Studies,” traced the beginnings of the study of tintinnids from the first description in 1776, up to the appearance of Kofoid and Campbell’s 1929 monograph. Here the second part of the history is presented, the studies of the “Modern Era,” the period of 1930 to 2025, during which time over 700 works focused on tintinnids have been published. In this review, the modern history of tintinnid studies is traced through brief portrayals, vignettes, of 55 workers who have made significant contributions to our knowledge of living tintinnids over the last nearly 100 years. The vignettes show that a remarkable diversity of researchers have been engaged in tintinnid studies, from the early years up to the present day and the changes, with time, in the types of studies conducted. Finally, some of the interconnections among the modern era researchers are given suggesting that an early exposure to tintinnids, through an advisor or mentor, has characterized many tintinnid researchers.
The first tintinnid ciliate was discovered and described in 1776, using just five words. Although now 250 years old, the study of tintinnids is still a very active field. According to Google Scholar, in the last 10 years, 151 works have appeared with the term “tintinnid” in the title. Early works mostly concerned species descriptions. In contrast, the recent studies have focused on a wide variety of topics: ecology, phylogeny, physiology, behavior, and biogeography. Here the beginnings of the long and rich history of tintinnid studies are traced through the stories of early workers in the period from the first descriptions, up to and including the appearance in 1929 of Kofoid and Campbell’s landmark treatise and its revision in 1939. Many are unaware of the fact that early protistologists who worked on tintinnids were prestigious biologists of their time, now known as important contributors not only to our knowledge of tintinnids, but also other groups of protists. There were ardent defenders of Darwin among the early workers. There were also often interesting interconnections between the early workers, while some began studying tintinnids almost by accident. A companion paper will shine a light on modern workers of tintinnid studies.
High-elevation ecosystems are characterized by unique environmental conditions, which establish correspondingly unique niches for microorganisms, including protosteloid amoebae – unicellular protists with key roles in organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling. This study primarily assessed the diversity and occurrences of protosteloid amoebae on a remote mountainous range with varying elevations. Field sampling was conducted across several sites, and organic debris and litter were collected, returned to the laboratory and placed on primary isolation plates. In total, 13 species of protosteloid amoebae and protosteloid-like organisms were observed. These belong to 11 genera, with distinct species including Ceratiomyxella tahitiensis sp. complex, Echinosteliopsis oligospora, Schizoplasmodium cavostelioides, Soliformovum irregulare, and Protosteliopsis fimicola. However, community analyses revealed no significant differences compared to the lowland areas and revealed close similarities among the sampling sites. The findings of this study provide additional in-formation on the existing microbial diversity in the mountainous ranges with a tropical semi-temperate climate, which has implications for their biogeographical patterns and distribution.
In the present study, a new species of septate gregarine, inhabiting Brachythemis contaminata Fabricius, 1793, a common drag-mass variablesresulting in the foll wingstatsticallyignificant equation (p = 003): Aonfly species in West Bengal, India, was identified and characterised. Mature trophozoites are solitary and pyriform. The epimerite complex extends up to 112 mu m in length and includes a terminal, hat-shaped epimerite proper with 8-12 distinct, very deeply ovoid to narrowly terococcus concentration(number/ml). In general, given the ncreasingevidence of the potential importance of amoeboid protistsn aquatic ovoid petals without pointed apices and an oblong diamerite. Gamonts are isogamontic and also pyriform (similar to 230 x 167 mu m), with a broadly obpanduriform protomerite and a pyriform deutomerite. Gametocysts are more or less orbicular (similar to 345 mu m). Under SEM, both trophozoites and gamonts are found to be covered by longitudinal, undulating epicytic folds, except epimerite proper. An orbicular, retracted area with a central, roughly orbicular region devoid of epicytic folds is present at the anterior end of the gamont, measuring 24.7-40.6 mu m in diameter. Key words: Aquatic ecosystems,eukaryotic micr bial communities climate effects, microbiaheterotrophic food webs microbial Tetrahedral configuration of the oocysts is prominent, characterised by a smooth surface and terminalprojections with an apical, sucker-like structure. The above characteristics align this septate gregarine with the genus Odonaticola. The distinctive morphological traits, including pyriform trophozoites and gamonts and an epimerite proper with 8-12 distinct, ovoid petals without pointed apices, support its erection as a new species, Odonaticola pyriforma n. sp.
Silicoflagellates are a poorly documented component of marine phytoplankton along the Moroccan Atlantic coast of North Africa Although rarely encountered in plankton samples, they can provide valuable insights into water column dynamics and upwelling regimes. This study aimed to characterize the taxonomic composition and morphological variability of silicoflagellates in two contrasting coastal environments influenced by seasonal upwelling: El Jadida Bay and Oualidia Lagoon. In El Jadida Bay, a relatively diverse assemblage was observed, including Dictyocha epiodon Ehrenberg, an unusual morphotype of Dictyocha cf. fibula, several morphotypes of Octactis pulchra Schiller, and Stephanocha speculum (Ehrenberg) McCartney and Jordan. In contrast, the lagoon assemblage was less diverse, with only three taxa recorded: Dictyocha fibula Ehrenberg, D. fibula var. robusta Schrader and Murray, and Stephanocha speculum, the only species shared between both habitats. In addition to morphological analysis, selected environmental variables were assessed, and chemical element data from Oualidia Lagoon (Chaouite et al. 2018) were reintegrated to contextualize species distribution and potential environmental stressors. Data analysis was performed with the R software (version 4.3.1), using packages from the tidyverse (including tidyr and ggplot2), cowplot, fmsb, and Venn diagram.
