Bakuella (Bakuella) granulifera Foissner et al., 2002

Bakuella (Bakuella) granulifera Foissner et al., 2002 View in CoL ( Figure 1 View Figure 1 ; Table 1)

Diagnosis of Indian population: The size is typically about 160 μm × 45 μm, as inferred from the morphometric data in Table 1, with an estimated 15% shrinkage due to preparation ( Kumar & Foissner, 2016; Kumar et al., 2016). The length-to-width ratio averages 4:1. The shape is slender and elongated-elliptical with rounded body ends, dorsoventrally flattened, and extremely flexible. Numerous small macronuclear nodules are scattered throughout the cell with the number ranging between 43 and 81. Individual nodules measure on average of 6 μm × 4 μm in protargol preparation, and vary in shape— ellipsoidal, globular, or elongated—each containing small nucleoli. Micronuclei are difficult to recognize in vivo and in protargol preparations, with each cell typically containing 1–2 micronuclei, averaging 3 μm in diameter in protargol preparation. A single contractile vacuole is present to the left of the mid-body. Conspicuous small, elongated oval, yellow-coloured cortical granules are distributed across the body, forming irregular short rows aligned between the cirral and bristle rows. The cytoplasm is colourless, filled with lipid droplets and numerous food vacuoles. Movement is swift in raw cultures as well as on microscopic slides.

The adoral zone contains approximately 35 membranelles and extends on average of 33% of the body length. The buccal cavity is deep and large. The paroral and endoral membranelles intersect optically, with the paroral being curved anteriorly. There are three enlarged frontal cirri, with the right cirrus positioned at the distal end of the adoral zone of membranelles, as usual. On average, there are two cirri (parabuccal) behind the right frontal cirrus. There are 5–7 buccal cirri situated to the right of the paroral. The frontoterminal cirral row is short, consisting of about 2–4 cirri, located just to the right of the first midventral pair. The midventral complex consists of about 8–15 cirral pairs, terminating near the mid-body and forming slightly oblique rows of 2–6 midventral cirri. The rightmost midventral row ends slightly above the right transverse cirri. There are 5–10 small transverse cirri closely arranged in an oblique row. One left and one right marginal cirral row are present, non-confluent posteriorly, consisting on average of 45 and 50 cirri, respectively. The right marginal cirral row extends to the dorsolateral surface anteriorly and terminates slightly subterminally at the posterior body end. Consistently, three bipolar dorsal kineties are present. Caudal cirri are absent.

Material deposited: Ten slides with protargol-impregnated specimens have been deposited at the National Zoological Collections of the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India, with the following accession numbers: Pt. 5300 –

5309.

Occurrence and ecology: Thus far reported from Namibia, Austria, China and South Korea ( Chae et al., 2021). The Indian population was isolated from a soil sample collected from the citrus field of the village namely, Tharike , Ludhiana , Punjab, India (30°52'37.9"N 75°46'31.1"E). The species typically feeds on bacteria and algae GoogleMaps .

Remarks: The Indian population of Bakuella (Bakuella) granulifera Foissner et al. (2002) is considerably smaller in size compared to other populations. Table 2 provides a comparison between the Indian population and the previously described populations.