Phylogeny, morphology, and behavior of the new ciliate species Stentor stipatus

The study of evolution at the cellular level traditionally has focused on the evolution of metabolic pathways, endomembrane systems, and genomes, but there has been increasing interest in evolution of more complex cellular structures and behaviors, particularly in the eukaryotes. Ciliates have major advantages for such studies due to their easily visible surface patterning and their dramatic and complex behaviors that can be easily analyzed. Among the ciliates, the genus Stentor epitomizes the features that are useful for studying evolution: they are widespread in freshwater environments, easy to visualize because of their large size, and capable of complex behaviors such as learning, decision-making, and phototaxis.

Here, we introduce the discovery of a new species within this genus: Stentor stipatus , so named for their distinctive dark brown aggregates. We present morphological, phylogenetic, ecological, and behavioral characterizations of these cells. The S. stipatus clade has a bootstrap value of 93 and is phylogenetically distinct from S. amethystinus , the closest related species which shares a sequence similarity of 98.9%. S. stipatus is capable of phototaxis and can also habituate more quickly than S. coeruleus , the Stentor species in which most habituation studies have previously been conducted. These findings expand our understanding of Stentor species diversity, natural history, and demonstrate common principles of complex behavior that are present in single-celled organisms.