''Legendrea'' is a genus of extremely rare

ciliate The ciliates are a group of alveolates characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles called cilia, which are identical in structure to flagellum, eukaryotic flagella, but are in general shorter and present in much larger numbers, with a ...

s first described by French biologist Fauré-Fremiet in 1908, rediscovered and re-examined in 2022.

Classification

The genus has 5 species including the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

, ''

Legendrea loyezae ''Legendrea'' is a genus of extremely rare ciliates first described by French biologist Fauré-Fremiet in 1908, rediscovered and re-examined in 2022. Classification The genus has 5 species including the type species In zoological nomenclatur ...

'', described in 1908. Other genera (e.g. ''Lacerus'' and ''Thysanomorpha'') were only distinguished from ''Legendrea'' by their physical appearance, not affinities. These genera were misidentifications and were synonymised with ''Legendrea'' along with their respective species. First true taxonomic assignment of the cilliate was made in December 2022. The current 5 species are: *'' Legendrea bellerophon'' ''Thysanomorpha bellerophon'' ">Thysanomorpha.html" ;"title="''Thysanomorpha">''Thysanomorpha bellerophon'' *''Legendrea crassa'' [=''Penardiella crassa'' ] *''Legendrea interrupta'' *''

'' *'' Legendrea pespelicani'' ''Lacerus pespelicani'' ">Lacerus.html" ;"title="''Lacerus">''Lacerus pespelicani''

Taxonomic affinities

The genus (and species) are distinguishable from one another by the length of their finger-like tentacles. These tentacles are located at the rear end of the animal. Descriptions of the animal vary from one another, and the reasoning is unknown. Phylogenetic analysis of the 18S rRNA gene within ''L. loyezae'' placed the genus within the family Spathidiidae taxonomically ranked under the order of Haptorida. A shorter gene of 18S rRNA was used to classify the species and so its affinity should be carefully interpreted with there being the likelihood of it changing to a new affinity. The sequence used to determine the identity of L. loyezae implies that it forms a sister group with the sequences from the re-identified Epispathidium papilliferum as well as an undescribed species of the same genus. The Epispathidium possessed protruding papillae that are analogous to those found on L. loyezae, although the papillae on Epispathidium were only present on its oral region.

A. Jankowski

A. Jankowski didn't observe any of the ''actual'' members of ''Legendrea''. Jankowski published a revision of the genus and in turn divided ''Legendrea'' into two genera; ''Lacerus'' and ''Thysanomorpha''. The differences between the species in ''Legendrea'', ''Legendrea bellerophon'', put it within the genus Thysanomorpha and was named ''Thysanomorpha bellerophon''. Jankowski re-described the species as having a serrated body edge/surface with an uneven series of outgrowths with trichomes. The names of the species and genera are not accepted and are considered as being mere misidentifications of the ''Legendrea's'' species.

References

{{Taxonbar">from=Q87255474 Ciliates Ciliate genera Microscopic eukaryotes">Ciliate_genera.html" ;"title="Ciliates Ciliate genera">Ciliates Ciliate genera Microscopic eukaryotes Microscopic animals Taxa described in 1908