The present monograph is the fourth of six volumes which review the Hypotricha, a major group of the spirotrichs. The book is about the Gonostomatidae, the Kahliellidae, and some taxa of unknown position in the hypotrichs. Gonostomum was previously misclassified in the Oxytrichidae because its type species Gonostomum affine has basically an 18-cirri pattern, which is dominant in the oxytrichids. A new hypothesis, considering also molecular data, postulates that this 18-cirri pattern evolved in the last common ancestor of the hypotrichs and therefore it appears throughout the Hypotricha tree. The simple dorsal kinety pattern, composed of only three bipolar dorsal kineties, and gene sequence analyses strongly suggest that Gonostomum branches off rather early in the phylogenetic tree. Thus, the Gonostomatidae, previously synonymised with the oxytrichids, are reactivated to include the name-bearing type genus and other genera (e.g., Paragonostomum, Wallackia, Cladotricha) which have the characteristic gonostomatid oral apparatus. The Kahliellidae are a rather vague group mainly defined via the preservation of parts of the parental infraciliature. The kahliellids preliminary comprise, besides the name-bearing type genus Kahliella, genera such as Parakahliella and its African pendant Afrokahliella or the monotypic Engelmanniella. In total 68 species distributed in 21 genera and subgenera are revised. As in the previous volumes almost all morphological, morphogenetic, molecular, faunistic, and ecological data, scattered in almost 700 papers, are compiled so that the four volumes (Oxytrichidae, Urostyloidea, Amphisiellidae and Trachelostylidae, Gonostomatidae and Kahliellida) provide a detailed insight into the biology of almost 500 species of hypotrichs. The series is an up-to-date overview about this highly interesting taxon of spirotrichous ciliates mainly addressed to taxonomists, cell biologists, ecologists, molecular biologists, and practitioners.

Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates, Volume 5: Keys to Neotropical and Antarctic Fauna, Fourth Edition, covers inland water invertebrates of the world. It began with Ecology and General Biology, Volume One (Thorp and Rogers, editors, 2015) and was followed by three volumes emphasizing taxonomic keys to general invertebrates of the Nearctic (2016), neotropical hexapods (2018), and general invertebrates of the Palearctic (2019). All volumes are designed for multiple uses and levels of expertise by professionals in universities, government agencies, private companies, and graduate and undergraduate students. Includes zoogeographic coverage of the entire Neotropics, from central Mexico and the Caribbean Islands, to the tip of South America Provides identification keys for aquatic invertebrates to genus or species level for many groups, with keys progressing from higher to lower taxonomic levels Contains terminology and morphology, materials preparation and preservation, and references

This is the second book of a series treating the hypotrichs, a major part of the spirotrichous ciliates. It summarises 230 years of morphological, morphogenetic, faunistic, and ecological data, heretofore scattered in some 1,300 references around the world. The book provides taxonomists, cell biologists, and ecologists with a thorough survey supplying synonyms, nomenclature and systematics, and an extensive description of morphology and ecology, including almost all published records, for each species.

The Ciliated Protozoa: Characterization, Classification and Guide to the Literature, Second Edition presents a premature major overhauling of the systematics of the Ciliophora sensu lato, which is considered a separate phylum. This book includes a developed rationale and defined criteria that serve as a basis for the reclassification of the ciliates. Discussions of controversial taxa are provided, including arbitrary but critical resolution of their place in, or rejection from, the new overall system. The ideas concerning the evolution of ciliates, as well as “phylogenetic trees are also covered in this text. This text categorizes the ciliates into three classes—Kinetofragminophora, Oligohymenophora, and Polyhymenophora. This publication is a good source for biologists and students interested in ciliates.