Plagiopyla ramani, Nitla & Serra & Fokin & Modeo & Verni & Sandeep & Kalavati & Petroni, 2019

PLAGIOPYLA RAMANI SP. NOV.

Diagnosis ( Fig. 18B): Body length 66–88 µm, body width 30–53 µm after silver staining. Somatic kineties: 41–51. Striated band 42.5 µm long. One ovoid macronucleus (size: 15.1 × 12.4 µm after Feulgen staining) and 1–5 vesicular-type micronuclei (Ø 1.2 – 2.4 µm). One contractile vacuole with 2–5 pores opening on the dorsal part of the cell. Cytoproct 21.8 µm long, located on the dorsal part of the cell, with 2 cytoproct-related ciliary rows on its left. Curved extrusomes (length: 1.9 µm).

Type locality/ecology and distribution: Freshwater in the hypoxic/anoxic part of the water column. Found in Kolleru Lake, Andhra Pradesh, India (present study) .