Kiitoksia Explained

Kiitoksia is a genus of aquatic protist. The taxonomic position of the genus is still uncertain and it has not found a robust location in any subgroup.^[1]

Two species are confidently known in the genus: Kiitoksia ystava and Kiitoksia kaloista. K. ystava was first discovered in Tvärminne in the Gulf of Finland. K. kaloista was discovered in Sombre Lake on Signy Island, near Antarctica. A third species, K. parva was transferred from the genus Clautriavia by Smith and Scoble ^[2]

The Kiitoksia species are single-celled organisms approximately 2-4 micrometres in size and round in shape. The species can be distinguished by their flagella: K. ystava has two flagella, one short and one long, while K. kaloista has one long flagellum.^[3]

Name

"" is a Finnish word for "thanks". The phrase "" means "thank you, my old friend", while "" means "thanks for the fish". The latter name is a reference to the Douglas Adams novel, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.^[4]

References

Tikhonenkov, D. V, Benthic heterotrophic flagellates from the Red Sea littoral (Gulf of Suez, Egypt). Zoologičeskij žurnal, 2009, vol. 88: (11), 1291–1297,

Notes and References

Naja . Vørs . Heterotrophic Amoebae, Flagellates and Heliozoa from the Tvärminne Area, Gulf of Finland, in 1988–1990 . Ophelia . 1992 . 36 . 1 . 1–109 . 10.1080/00785326.1992.10429930.
Cavalier-Smith, T. & Scoble, J. (2012). Phylogeny of Heterokonta: Incisomonas marina, a uniciliate gliding opalozoan related to Solenicola (Nanomonadea), and evidence that Actinophryida evolved from raphidophytes. European journal of protistology. 49. 10.1016/j.ejop.2012.09.002.
S. . Tong . N. . Vørs . D. J. . Patterson . Heterotrophic flagellates, centrohelid heliozoa and filose amoebae from marine and freshwater sites in the Antarctic . Polar Biology . 1997 . 18 . 2 . 91–106 . 10.1007/s003000050163. 38034485 .
Tong, S., Vørs, N. and Patterson, D.J. 1997. Heterotrophic flagellates, centrohelid heliozoa and filose amoebae from marine and freshwater sites in the Antarctic. Polar Biology, 18, 91–106 doi=10.1007/s003000050163| s2cid= 38034485