PROGRESS IN PROTOZOOLOGY

PROGRESS IN PROTOZOOLOGY
Proceedings of VI International Congress of Protozoology
Special Congress Volume of ACTA PROTOZOOLOGICA
part II, pp. 219-221, 1984
Round Table Discussion
Appendix
The Taxonomic Position of Euglenida parasitica
W. MICHAJLOW
Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pasteura 3, 02-093 Warszawa,
Poland
I should like to make some remarks, on the taxonomic and systematic
problems of flagellates. I am concerned specifically with euglenids
parasitic in copepods, which I have studied since 1955. This group,
to which I refer under the designation of "Euglenida parasitica", contains
now 128 species. It can be assumed that in the future there will
be described additional species, the total number being thus doubled
or tripled.
Euglenida parasitica is a biologic rather than a systematic grouping.
Species, genera, and even families of these euglenids can belong to various
taxonomic units within the order Euglenida. This indicates that
Euglenida parasitica is a polyphyletic assemblage.
First of all I would like to join Prof. Poljansky in his opinion,
presented in his excellent paper, that there exists a possibility and, indeed,
a necessity for determination of species as basic biologic units
also among protozoa which undergo exclusively asexual reproduction.
In determination of the Euglenida parasitica species the employment
of exclusively morphological criteria does not suffice, elthough the significance
of these criteria cannot be overlooked. I am certain that many
euglenid species described, for example by Skuja or Skovortzova
as well as by other authors who based their determinations exclusively
on morphologic attributes of flagellated forms swimming in water,
will be identified as parasitic organisms after more complete observations
of their developmental cycles.
Paper presented at Round Table Discussion on July 11 at VI International
Congress of Protozoology, Warsaw, Poland 5-11 July 1981.
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