Cap 17

parasites of crustaceans , asteroids , and fish ; 
five genera. 
 – Anophryoides de Puytorac & Grolière, 1979 
(subj. syn. Paranophrys ) 
 – Mesanophrys Small & Lynn in Aescht, 2001 
 – Metanophrys de Puytorac, Grolière, Roque, & 
Detcheva, 1974 
 – Orchitophrya Cépède, 1907 
 – Paranophrys Thompson & Berger, 1965 
 Family PARALEMBIDAE Corliss & de Puytorac 
in Small & Lynn, 1985 
 (syn. Anophryidae ) 
 Size, small; shape, ovoid with anterior and 
posterior ends naked ; free-swimming; somatic 
ciliation, holotrichous; caudal cilium, long; oral
region, may be extensive, with long paroral 
beginning at level of oral polykinetid 2, which is 
more than three times longer than oral polyki-
netid 3, and with oral polykinetid 3 typically 
 oriented transverse to previous two ; scutica, a 
large patch of kinetosomes; macronucleus, globu-
lar to ellipsoid, rarely elongate; micronucleus, 
present; contractile vacuole, present; cytoproct, 
present; bacterivorous and histophagous; in marine 
habitats with some species in marine detritus or 
“snow”; six genera. 
 – Anophrys Cohn, 1866 
 – Cryptolembus Gunderson, 1985 
 – Magnalembus Small & Lynn, 1985 
 – Mesolembus Small & Lynn, 1985 
 – Ovolembus Small & Lynn, 1985 
 – Paralembus Jankowski, 2007 
 Family PARAURONEMATIDAE Small & Lynn, 
1985
 Size, small; shape, pyriform to ovoid; free-
swimming; somatic ciliation, holotrichous, not 
dense; caudal cilium, prominent; oral region in 
anterior half of body, as shallow cavity with pos-
terior segments of the paroral segment skewed 
to left of midventral postoral region ; scutica
often as linear file, in middle to left side of direc-
tor meridian, sometimes extending anteriorly 
to the posterior end of the paroral, but can be 
“Y”-shaped ; macronucleus, globular to ellipsoid; 
micronucleus, present; contractile vacuole, present; 
cytoproct, present; life cycle of several genera 
including microstome-macrostome transformation; 
bacterivorous or histophagous; in marine habitats; 
four genera. 
 – Glauconema Thompson, 1966 
 – Miamiensis Thompson & Moewus, 1964 
 – Parauronema Thompson, 1967 
 – Potomacus Thompson, 1966 
 Family PHILASTERIDAE Kahl, 1931 
 (syn. Frontoniidae p.p ., Porpostomatidae p.p.)
 Size, small to large; shape, elongate to finger-
shaped, though ovoid in smaller genera, with anterior 
end bluntly tapered; free-swimming; somatic cilia-
tion, holotrichous, dense; caudal cilium, single, may 
be inconspicuous; oral region, an anterior cavity 
or depression, usually shallow, rarely extending 
to equator ; oral polykinetid 1 triangular, equal to 
or smaller than oral polykinetid 2 ; scutica, elon-
gated as posterior extension of paroral into direc-
tor meridian ; macronucleus, globular to ellipsoid; 
micronucleus, present; contractile vacuole, present; 
cytoproct, present; bacterivorous, but sometimes 
 histophagous; in marine habitats, predominantly 
as free-living forms, although several species are 
17.3 The Ciliate Taxa to Genus 417
facultative parasites, being histophagous on or in 
invertebrates and vertebrates; seven genera. 
 – Helicostoma Cohn, 1866 
 – Kahlilembus Grolière & Couteaux, 1984 
 – Madsenia Kahl, 1934 
 – Paraphilaster Grolière, de Puytorac, & Grain, 
1980 
 – Philaster Fabre-Domergue, 1885 
 – Philasterides Kahl, 1931 
 – Porpostoma Moebius, 1888 (subj. syn. Heli-
costoma ) 
 Family PSEUDOCOHNILEMBIDAE Evans & 
Thompson, 1964 
 Size, small; shape, elongate-pyriform; free-
swimming; somatic ciliation, holotrichous, sparse; 
caudal cilium, present; oral region, long and shal-
low; oral polykinetids with long axes aligned 
more or less with long axis of body and oral 
region; paroral extending to middle of oral 
polykinetid 1, which itself extends to the ante-
rior end and in line with the paroral, oral 
polykinetid 2 as one kinetosomal file parallel 
to these, and oral polykinetid 3 as tiny left pos-
terior-lateral extension of oral polykinetid 2 ; 
macronucleus, globular to ellipsoid; micronucleus, 
present; contractile vacuole, present; cytoproct, 
present; bacterivorous or scavengers; in marine, 
brackish, and saline habitats as free-living forms 
with occasional species entocommensal in the 
intestines of echinoids , but freshwater and copro-
zoic strains known in one species; one genus. 
 – Pseudocohnilembus Evans & Thomspon, 1964 
 Family SCHIZOCARYIDAE Jankowski, 1979 
 (syn. Schizocary[um]idae ) 
 Size, medium; shape, ovoid and somewhat 
dorsoventrally flattened ; free-swimming, but 
highly thigmotactic; somatic ciliation, holotrichous, 
dense; somatic kinetids, cirrus-like, as unique 
polykinetids with the posterior rightmost kine-
tosome bearing the typical three fibrillar associ-
ates of the class and 2–12 or more kinetosomes 
clustered anteriorly to it ; oral region in anterior 
half as an elongate groove with oral ciliature 
apparently a series of transverse rows of kineto-
somes ; division by palintomy within a reproductive 
cyst, involving dedifferentiation of trophont oral 
structures prior to cell divisions; macronucleus, 
fragmented, up to eight or more irregular 
pieces ; micronucleus, present; contractile vacuole, 
present; cytoproct (?); bacterivorous and detritivo-
rous; in marine habitats as endocommensals in the 
esophagus of echinoderms , so far recorded only 
from the Pacific Ocean basin; one genus. 
NOTE : Lynn and Strüder-Kypke (2002) have 
used small subunit rRNA gene sequences to relate 
Schizocaryum to philasterine scuticociliates , close 
to the genus Anophryoides . Careful examination of 
division morphogenesis may uncover developmen-
tal characters that corroborate this placement. 
 – Schizocaryum Poljansky & Golikova, 1957 
 Family THIGMOPHRYIDAE Chatton & Lwoff, 1926 
 (syns. Cochliodomidae , Conchophyllidae , Myxo-
phyllidae ) 
 Size, medium; shape, elongate ovoid, laterally 
flattened; free-swimming; somatic ciliation, hol-
otrichous, dense, with very dense thigmotactic 
ciliature, on the anterior left surface of the 
body ; oral region, a cavity in the posterior 1/4 
of the body, with oral ciliature as a reduced and 
inconspicuous paroral and a single oral polyki-
netid ; macronucleus, globular to ellipsoid, but 
sometimes band-form and nodular; micronucleus, 
present; contractile vacuole, present; cytoproct (?); 
bacterivorous(?); in marine and terrestrial habitats 
as commensals in the mantle cavity and occasion-
ally the slime of terrestrial pulmonates and espe-
cially marine bivalve molluscs , and one species 
endocommensal in a nemertine worm, which itself 
lives in the mantle cavity of a bivalve mollusc ; six 
genera.
 – Cochliodomus Raabe, 1971 
 – Cochliophilus Kozloff, 1945 
 – Conchophyllum Raabe, 1936 
 – Myxophthirus Da Silva Neto, 1992 
 – Myxophyllum Raabe, 1934 
 – Thigmophrya Chatton & Lwoff, 1923 
 Family THYROPHYLACIDAE Berger in Corliss, 
1961
 (syn. Thyrophylaxidae ) 
 Size, large; shape, ovoid, laterally compressed, 
with prominent anterodorsal suture and minute 
418 17. The Ciliate Taxa Including Families and Genera
caudal projection; free-swimming; somatic cili-
ation, holotrichous, dense; oral region as large, 
deep oral cavity with right somatic kineties 
lining its right wall and a large oral polykinetid 
2 lining the entire left wall ; macronucleus, ellip-
soid to elongate ellipsoid; micronuclei, numerous; 
contractile vacuoles, multiple; cytoproct, present; 
carnivorous on other ciliates ; in marine habitats 
as endocommensals in the intestines of echinoids , 
so far recorded only from the Pacific Ocean basin; 
two genera. 
 – Plagiopyliella Poljansky, 1951 
 – Thyrophylax Lynn & Berger, 1973 
 Family URONEMATIDAE Thompson, 1964 
 Size, small; shape, ovoid to elongate-ovoid, 
with anterior end slightly flattened and ante-
rior pole conspicuously naked ; free-swimming; 
somatic ciliation, holotrichous, sparse; caudal cil-
ium, one or more; oral region, anterior,