Paramecium tredecaurelia: A Unique Non-Polymorphic Species of the P. aurelia spp. Complex (Oligohymenophorea, Ciliophora)

New stands of Paramecium tredecaurelia, a rare species of the P. aurelia spp. complex, were identified in Thailand and Madagascar on the basis of mating reactions and molecular markers (rDNA and mtDNA). Analysis of DNA fragments showed that all P. tredecaurelia strains, the recently recorded ones and the ones known previously from France, Mexico, and Israel, form a monophyletic and well-defined clade in the P. aurelia species trees. All of these strains, collected from different localities around the world, represent identical or nearly identical haplotypes in terms of all the studied DNA fragments. Given the huge distances between particular collection sites, such a low level of variability of the studied sequences may result from a slow rate of evolution in P. tredecaurelia

New Habitats of Species of the Paramecium aurelia Complex in Russia and Vietnam

Two strains from Russia, one collected in Stary Peterhof, St. Petersburg and the second one in Irkutsk near Lake Baikal, both bearing two types of endosymbiont - Caedibacter sp. in the cytoplasm and Holospora caryophila in the macronucleus, were identified as Paramecium biaurelia. The strain originating from Hanoi, Vietnam was determined as Paramecium primaurelia, this strain has no endosymbionts

Paramecium sexaurelia of the Paramecium aurelia species complex in Thailand

The clones originating from Thailand, Phuket Island, were identified as Paramecium sexaurelia