摘要

The phylogeny of the oligotrich ciliates is currently a hot debate despite the availability of both morphological and molecular data. In the present paper, further small subunit rRNA (SS rRNA) genes were analyzed from the Genera Omegastrombidium and Novistrombidium, as well as from Strombidium, and combined with three new SS rRNA sequences from Strombidium basimorphum, S. sulcatum population QD-1, and Novistrombidium testaceum population GD. The phylogenetic positions of these organisms were inferred using Bayesian inference, Maximum Likelihood, and Maximum Parsimony methods. The main results are: (1) the SS rRNA gene sequence analyses match the recent findings about the molecular evolution of oligotrichs, indicating that the family Strombidiidae is paraphyletic; (2) the Genus Omegastrombidium is separated from the Genus Strombidium, as shown in recent cladistic analyses; (3) morphospecies in Genus Novistrombidium, based on similarity of somatic ciliature, are separated from each other in all topological trees, indicating that this genus could be a paraphyletic group; (4) the molecular data indicate a possibility of paraphyly for the genus Strombidium; and (5) the similarities of the SS rRNA gene of specimens identified as S. sulcatum and S. inclinatum are 99.8%-100%. However, present knowledge on the oligotrichs sensu stricto is still insufficient and further studies based on both molecular and other technologies are required.