European Journal of PROTISTOLOGY European Journal of Protistology 46 (2010) 180–188 Redescription of Triplumaria selenica Latteur et al., 1970 (Ciliophora, Entodiniomorphida) and its phylogenetic position based on the infraciliary bands and 18SSU rRNA gene sequence Akira Ito a,Ã , Hajime Honma b ,Go ¨ zde Gu ¨ relli c , Bayram Go ¨ c - men c , Takakibi Mishima d , Yutaka Nakai b , Soichi Imai e a Ookusa Animal Clinic, Matsue, Shimane 690-0032, Japan b Laboratory of Sustainable Environmental Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Osaki, Miyagi 989-6711, Japan c Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ege University, Bornova-Izmir 35100, Turkey d Department of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan e Department of Parasitology, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan Received 22 October 2009; received in revised form 9 January 2010; accepted 29 January 2010 Abstract Triplumaria selenica Latteur, Tuffrau and Wespes, 1970 was redescribed from pyridinated silver carbonate- impregnated specimens. Triplumaria selenica has a slit of the vestibular opening extending posteriorly along the left side of the vestibulum. The wide C-shaped adoral polybrachykinety extends along the ventral side of the vestibular opening. The narrow perivestibular polybrachykinety extends laterally along the dorsal side of the vestibular opening from the right end of the adoral polybrachykinety and forms a loop extending posteriorly along the vestibular slit to join to the left end of the adoral polybrachykinety. The 18SSU rRNA gene of T. selenica as well as those of six other entodiniomorphid species, Raabena bella, Blepharocorys curvigula, Entodinium longinucleatum, Eudiplodinium rostratum, Metadinium medium, and Ostracodinium gracile was sequenced. The neighbor joining and maximum parsimony phylogenetic trees were constructed to discuss the evolution of entodiniomorphs. Our results will support and extend Wolska’s hypothesis: the ancestral forms of blepharocorythids have evolved into ophryoscolecids and Cycloposthium species via the ancestor of Triplumaria. & 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Keywords: 18SSU rRNA; Blepharocorythidae; Entodiniomorphida; infraciliature; Triplumaria selenica; Ophryoscolecidae Introduction Ciliates in the genus Triplumaria Hoare, 1937, order Entodiniomorphida, Class Litostomatea, are found in the intestine of elephants and rhinoceroses (Eloff and Van Hoven 1980; Hoare 1937; Latteur et al. 1970; Timoshenko and Imai 1995; Van Hoven et al. 1998). Triplumaria selenica was first described from African elephants and has been later also found in Asian elephants and African white rhinoceroses. Triplumaria selenica has relatively wide distribution in elephants (Timoshenko and Imai 1995) and the original descrip- tion of T. selenica was incorrect and the 18SSU rRNA ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.de/ejop 0932-4739/$ - see front matter & 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ejop.2010.01.005 Ã Corresponding author: Fax: þ81 852 237780. E-mail address: pecora@mable.ne.jp (A. Ito)