Report of suctorian ciliates (Ciliophora, Suctorea) as epibionts on meiobenthic nematodes in an oxygen minimum zone of the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean Author Chatterjee, Tapas Near Hari Mandir Road, Hirapur, Dhanbad 826004, Jharkhand, India. Author Sautya, Sabyasachi Laboratory for Benthic Ecological Trait Analysis (L-BETA), Biological Oceanography Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre, Mumbai- 400053, India. Author Dovgal, Igor 0000-0002-3876-233X A. O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of RAS, 2, Nakhimov ave., Sevastopol, 299011, Russia. dovgal- 1954 @ mail. ru; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 3876 - 233 X dovgal-1954@mail.ru Author Gaikwad, Santosh Laboratory for Benthic Ecological Trait Analysis (L-BETA), Biological Oceanography Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, RegionalCentre, Mumbai- 400053, India. text Zootaxa 2022 2022-05-19 5138 4 492 500 journal article 55454 10.11646/zootaxa.5138.4.9 1943a2ba-2a89-42c2-b92a-1f2c61c0f698 1175-5326 6571797 B3E88671-1A44-4529-85B9-44887CADC896 Acinetopsis lynni Baldrighi et al ., 2020 ( Fig. 3A–F ) Material examined: Twenty ciliate specimens were found attached with eight female Desmodora sp. and sixty ciliate specimens were found attached with nine males of the same species from 202 m depth of the Arabian Sea. FIGURE 3A, B. Acinetopsis lynni Baldrighi et al ., 2020 attached on nematode hosts, C–F. Manified views of Acinetopsis lynni . Brief Description: Marine suctorian ciliate enclosed in stalked lorica. The cellbody is attached to the bottom of lorica, which fills about two thirds or three fours of it. The apical surface of the cell is somewhat concave down. Lorica elongate, slightly flattened, smooth. Stalk, short, straight, some extended upward, very weakly longitudinally striated, with the adhesive disc. There are 6–7 extremely contractive, long, agile tentacles (in investigating individuals all tentacles were contracted). Macronucleus ovoid, positioned near foot of the body. Reproduction by endogenous budding with the formation of a single protomite. Measurements from present find (in µm, based on four individuals): Lorica length 53–77; lorica width 17–24; body length 47–58; body width 16–22; stalk length 5–8; macronucleus length 7–11; macronucleus width 4–6; length of the contracted tentacles 4–7. Remarks : In the present observation total of 80 Acinetopsis lynni specimens are found attached to 17 individuals of the host ( Table 2 ). The place of attachment was shown in Pie diagram ( Fig. 4 ) giving information on the percentage of infestation at anterior, middle and posterior body parts of the nematode host. It was found that 11% ciliates were attached on the anterior part of the body while, attachment on middle and posterior parts was 54% and 34%, respectively. Baldrighi et al . (2020) reported the attachment of this species on the host body at the middle part and tail region of the body. FIGURE 4. Pie diagram showing percentage of Acinetopsis lynni infestation at anterior, middle and posterior body parts of nematode hosts. This species was earlier reported as epibiont on Desmodora sp. found attached to the middle part and tail region from the Gulf of Naples-shallow vent area ( Baldrighi et al . 2020 ). This is the first report of this species from the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.