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 monophylum Oxytrichidae (Ciliophora, Hypotrichia) contains freshwater-, marine-, and soil-dwelling species. Some taxa are extremely widespread in freshwater (e.g. Oxytricha, Stylonychia) or in terrestrial habitats (e.g. Gonostomum). Oxytricha and Stylonychia have been used for many molecular, ultrastructural, and genetic investigations. This is the first book since Ehrenberg's (1838) monumental work to summarize the morphological, morphogenetic, faunistic, and ecological data from the past 220 years, scattered in more than 2500 references from all over the world. One central dichotomous key leads directly to 32 genera comprising about 169 species, which are illustrated by more than 2400 figures, including original ones. Taxonomists, ecologists, limnologists, soil biologists, and cell biologists will find a list of synonyms, a discussion of nomenclatural and taxonomic problems, and a detailed morphological and ecological description, including almost all published faunistic records. This enables both the specialist and the practitioner to determine species without referring back to the original literature. The book offers the interested scientist a thorough and up-to-date revision of the oxytrichids.