Tintinnina (Protozoa, Ciliophora, Spirotrichea) from temperate and subtropical marine waters: a contribution to protozoan biodiversity

Sampling in the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic. Taxonomic investigation of the tintinnid morphology applying several light and electron microscopical methods. Phylogenetic analyses based on the SSrRNA and ITS gene sequences, and cladistic analyses using morphologic, ontogenetic, and ultrastructural data. • The rigorous description and revision of about 30 new or insufficiently known tintinnid ciliate species and genera from coastal regions of the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic on several populations each. • The assessment of biodiversity of selected genera, using cell and lorica morphology. • The assessment whether several cytologically distinct populations (pseudocryptic species ) underlie a “Formenkreis ” or whether a single species possesses multiple lorica morphotypes. • The improvement of the cladistic analyses by including the new morphologic, ontogenetic (division pattern), and ultrastructural data. • The assessment whether the similarity of populations from the same site is greater than between popula¬tions from three carefully selected discrete, distant locations. • Providing the potential for a synergistic study with molecular biologists and ecologists in France and the USA.