Laboratório de Protistologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Eur J Protistol. 2013 Nov;49(4):623-33. doi: 10.1016/j.ejop.2013.04.003. Epub 2013 May 18.
The morphology and morphometric data of seven populations of Blepharisma sinuosum from southeastern Brazil were investigated. The description is based on live observations, protargol impregnation, and scanning electron microscopy. Blepharisma sinuosum measures 75-255μm in length and 25-93μm in width and has a spindle-shaped body, pink color, a single contractile vacuole located at the posterior end, 50 adoral membranelles, a conspicuous paroral, 17-35 somatic kineties, a moniliform macronucleus with 2-7 connected nodules, and 3-20 micronuclei. Morphological comparisons with similar species were performed and suggest that B. americanum is the junior synonym of B. sinuosum. The 18S rDNA gene sequence of B. sinuosum was obtained and compared with that of other Blepharisma species. The length and GC content of the obtained sequence is 1652bp and 47.03%, respectively, and has a very high structural similarity (99.9%) with the B. undulans sequence. The validity of the classification of Blepharisma species in morphonuclear subgenera is also discussed.
对来自巴西南部的 7 个种群的扭口虫（Blepharisma sinuosum）的形态和形态计量学数据进行了研究。描述基于活体观察、蛋白银浸染和扫描电子显微镜。扭口虫长 75-255μm，宽 25-93μm，呈纺锤形，粉红色，单个收缩泡位于后端，50 个口围纤毛，明显的前口环，17-35 个体纤毛环，单链状的大核，有 2-7 个连接的小结，以及 3-20 个微核。与相似物种的形态比较表明，B. americanum 是 B. sinuosum 的次同物异名。获得了扭口虫的 18S rDNA 基因序列，并与其他扭口虫物种的序列进行了比较。获得序列的长度和 GC 含量分别为 1652bp 和 47.03%，与 B. undulans 序列具有非常高的结构相似性（99.9%）。还讨论了形态核亚属中扭口虫物种分类的有效性。
