Critical taxonomic revision of Parabasalids with description of one new genus and three new species

Abstract

We propose a new classification of Parabasalia which is congruent with both ultrastructural and molecular-phylogenetic studies. We identify six main parabasalid lineages and give them the rank of class: Hypotrichomonadea, Trichomonadea, Tritrichomonadea, Cristamonadea, Trichonymphea, and Spirotrichonymphea. Trichomonadea is characterized by a single mastigont and by the absence of both a comb-like structure and an infrakinetosomal body. Most representatives also possess a lamelliform undulating membrane. Trichomonadea is divided into two monophyletic orders, Trichomonadida (family Trichomonadidae; with a B-type costa) and Honigbergiellida (families Honigbergiellidae, Hexamastigidae and Tricercomitidae; without a costa). The class Tritrichomonadea, with a single order Tritrichomonadida, is ancestrally characterized by a single mastigont with four flagella, and both a comb-like structure and an infrakinetosomal body. The morphologically most complex representatives (family Tritrichomonadidae) possess in addition a rail-type undulating membrane, an A-type costa, and a suprakinetosomal body. These last three characters are absent in families Monocercomonadidae and Simplicimonadidae. The remaining tritrichomonadids, Dientamoebidae, have undergone reductive evolution. Cristamonads (Cristamonadea) are morphologically derived from tritrichomonads. Because we are unable to determine morphologically homogenous monophyletic lineages within cristamonads, we classify all cristamonads into a single family, Lophomonadidae. Hypotrichomonadea, comprising the genera Trichomitus and Hypotrichomonas, resembles Tritrichomonadea by an A-type costa, and by the presence of a comb-like structure in the mastigont. However, they do not possess an infrakinetosomal body, and are not specifically related to Tritrichomonadea in molecular-phylogenetic analyses. Moreover, unlike Tritrichomonadea, Hypotrichomonadea possesses a lamelliform undulating membrane. The remaining parabasalids are of complex morphology and belong to the classes Trichonymphea and Spirotrichonymphea. A new parabasalid genus, Simplicimonas (Tritrichomonadea), and three new species, Tetratrichomonas undula, Hexamastix coercens and Simplicimonas similis, are described.