This study made a survey on the ciliate protozoans from Peritrichid and Suctorian taxa, epibionts of Pomacea lineata (Spix, 1827) (Ampullariidae). Fifty mollusks were collected in places of irrigation ditches and shell was scraped with a scalpel and the extracted material was analyzed in vivo by light microscopy. All examined mollusks presented epibiont ciliates on their shells. For the first time epibiont ciliates in P. lineata was record. Seven genera of ciliates: five peritrichids and two suctorians, were identified and classified within the subclass Peritrichia: Carchesium Ehrenberg, 1838 (Vorticellidae), Epistylis Ehrenberg, 1830 (Epistylidae), Opercularia Stein, 1854 (Operculariidae), Vaginicola Lamarck, 1816 (Vaginicolidae) and Vorticella Linnaeus, 1767 (Vorticellidae); and Suctoria: Acineta Ehrenberg,1834 (Acinetidae) and Tokophrya Bütschli,1889 (Tokophrydae). The results showed that P. lineata constitute the microenvironment of a ciliate protozoan community that presents complex trophic interactions.
Epizoic ciliates; prosobranch snail; freshwater environment
