Parvilucifera multicavata sp. nov. (Alveolata, Perkinsozoa), a New Parasitoid Infecting Marine Dinoflagellates Having Abundant Apertures on the Sporangium.

ABSTRACT

The phylum Perkinsozoa is known as an exclusively parasitic group including the parasites of shellfish, fish, dinoflagellates, cryptophytes, and tadpoles and at present comprises seven genera across three families (Parviluciferaceae, Perkinsidae, and Xcellidae), with the genus Parvilucifera having the most abundant species in the family Parviluciferaceae. During intensive sampling along the Korean coast in August and September 2017, a new species of the genus Parvilucifera was discovered and successfully established in cultures. Morphological and ultrastructural observations revealed that the new parasitoid shares almost all known diagnostic characters with other species of Parvilucifera, except that its sporangium has a higher number of apertures although with smaller diameters than those in P. infectans. Molecular phylogenetic trees based on both nuclear small subunit (SSU) and concatenated SSU and large subunit (LSU) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences revealed that the new parasitoid was nested within the family Parviluciferaceae and had a sister relationship with P. infectans. Based on morphological, ultrastructural, and molecular data, we propose to erect a new species, P. multicavata sp. nov., for the new parasitoid found in this study.