Global diversity of aloricate Oligotrichea (Protista, Ciliophora, Spirotricha) in marine and brackish sea water.

ABSTRACT: Oligotrichids and choreotrichids are ciliate taxa contributing to the multi-step microbial food web and episodically dominating the marine microzooplankton. The global diversity and distribution of aloricate Oligotrichea are unknown. Here, the geographic ranges of the 141 accepted species and their synonyms in marine and brackish sea water are analyzed, using hundreds of taxonomical and ecological studies; the quality of the records is simultaneously evaluated. The aloricate Oligotrichea match the moderate endemicity model, i.e., the majority (94) of morphospecies has a wide, occasionally cosmopolitan distribution, while 47 morphospecies show biogeographic patterns: they are restricted to single geographic regions and probably include 12 endemic morphospecies. These endemics are found in t

SUBMITTER: Agatha S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3154192 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature