Comparative cytological study of four species in the genera Holomastigotes and Uteronympha n. comb. (Holomastigotidae, Parabasalia), symbiotic flagellates of termites.

Cytological features observed using light, immunofluorescence, and electron microscopy of the type species Holomastigotes elongatum were compared with Holomastigotes lanceolata and to Holomastigotes flexuosum n. sp. The comparison was extended to Spirotrichonymphella pudibunda and to Uteronympha africana n. gen. n. sp., in order to present the common features of the Holomastigotidae (Spirotrichonymphida). All these species have anterior basal bodies bearing microfibrillar or striated rootlets that are reduced or absent posterior to the nucleus. An axostylar trunk is present in Holomastigotes elongatum and Holomastigotes lanceolata, whereas the axostylar microtubules do not extend posterior to the nucleus in Holomastigotes flexuosum, Spirotrichonymphella, and Uteronympha. Uteronympha africana has specific features, such as a transverse plaque inside the columella from which arise microtubules capping the nucleus, and as in Spirotrichonympha the striated lamina is present all along the flagellar lines. Uteronympha africana has ability to endocytose wood particles in addition to the osmotrophic feeding that occurs in all the Holomastigotidae.