Taxonomy and phylogeny of heliozoa. III. Actinophryids

The diversity, relationships and classification of the actinophryid heliozo a (protists) are reviewed. Descriptions of two new species (Acrinophrys sal suginosa and Ciliophrys azurina) are presented. The actinophryid heliozoa a re revised to include six species: Acrinophrys sol (Muller, 1773) Ehrenberg , 1830, A. pontica Valkanov, 1940, A. tauryanini Mikrjukov et Patterson, 20 00, A. salsuginosa sp. n., Actinosphaerium eichhornii (Ehrenberg, 1840) Ste in, 1857, and A. nucleofilum Barrett, 1958. Echinosphoerium /Echinosphaeriu m Hovasse, 1965 and Camptonema Schaudinn, 1894 are regarded as junior subje ctive synonyms of Actinosphaerium Stein, 1857. The relatedness between acti nophryid heliozoa and pedinellid helioflagellates is discussed. The new spe cies, Ciliophrys azurina, exhibiting characters (tapering axonemes and peri pheral location of heterochromatin) previously only reported in the actinop hryids. This allows a proposition for the sequence of character acquisition and a new group of stramenopiles - the actinodines - uniting pedinellids, ciliophryids and actinophryids.