On the investigated territory three species of the complex were indentified, namely Paramecium biaurelia>, P. triaurelia, and P. novaurelia>. P. novaurelia dominated over the other species with regard to the number of clones established from nature as well as to habitats.
The distribution of species of the paramecium aurelia in the Eastern Sudets of Poland and Czecho-Slovakia was investigated. In the studied territory four species of the P. aurelia were found: P. primaurelia, P. biaurelia, P. triaurelia, P. novaurelia. This is the second finding of P. triaurelia in the Sudets.
In the samples collected on the territory of the recently studied region of the Eastern Carpathians, i.e. in the Gorgany Mts, the presence of P. novaurelia was recorded in the samples collected from the bog situated on the Jab?onica Pass at an altitude of 1100 m. This is the first record of the presence of P. novaurelia in the Gorgany Mts.
Astand of Paramecium novaurelia was found in Boston Massachusetts, USA, the first on this continent. Molecular studies (RAPD and sequencing of rRNA [ 3'SSUrRNA-ITS1, 5' LSU rRNA] and COI mtDNA fragments) of P. novaurelia strains show intra-specific polymorphism within the species as strain clusters characterized by variable relationships.
The paper concerns the finding of a new habitat (Kiryat Motzkin, north of Haifa, Israel) of Paramecium tredecaurelia from the P. aurelia complex. This is only the forth known locality of the species in the world. Previously, its strains were obtained from widely separated localities: the River Seine, Paris, France; Benenitra, Madagascar, and the Cuernavaca Valley, Taxco, Mexico. The studied strain originating from Israel was identified as P. tredecaurelia on the basis of the strong (90%) conjugation between the complementary mating type of the examined clones with the appropriate standard strain 209 of P. tredecaurelia from Paris, France (restricted to odd mating type). However, the strain from Israel is restricted to the even mating type.
In Europe, 10 among the 15 known species of the Paramecium aurelia complex have been recorded including P. primaurelia, P. biaurelia, P. triaurelia, P. tetraurelia, P. pentaurelia, P. sexaurelia, P. septaurelia, P. novaurelia, P. dodecaurelia, and P. tredecaurelia. The occurrence of species of this complex in Europe has been estimated on the basis of the number of habitats and the ratio value (r.v.), i.e. the number of habitats for a defined species to the total number of habitats with species of the P. aurelia complex. The r.v. presents the relative frequency of the particular species to others of the complex. In total, 483 habitats were considered. The dominant species is P. novaurelia (r.v. 0.38, found in 186 habitats), followed by P. biaurelia (r.v. 0.26 in 125 habitats) and P. primaurelia (0.23 in 113 habitats). Other species are less frequent, such as P. tetraurelia (r.v. 0.06 found in 29 habitats), P. triaurelia (r.v. 0.04 in 22 habitats), or rare such as P. septaurelia (r.v. 0.025 found in 12 habitats), as well as P. pentaurelia and P. sexaurelia (r.v. 0.02 for both, found in 11 and 10 habitats, respectively). P. dodecaurelia was found in three localities in Europe (r.v. 0.006) and P. tredecaurelia is known from a single habitat (r.v. 0.002). This paper presents new populations, found at present, of species of the P. aurelia complex in Europe (Germany, Italy, Spain, Iceland, Poland, Great Britain) and one new from the USA.
The presence of Paramecium decaurelia (three strains) and Paramecium dodecaurelia (two strains) were recorded in Japan, for the first time in this country and outside the USA.
The strains collected in Athens and the city of Egina, the Island of Egina were identified as P. primaurelia. This is the first information about finding of P. primaurelia in Greece.
Among 15 species of the Paramecium aurelia complex known world-wide , 10 have been found in Europe, namely: P. primaurelia, P. biaurelia, P. triaurelia, P. tetraurelia, P. pentaurelia, P. sexaurelia, P. septaurelia, P. novaurelia, P. dodecaurelia, and P. tredecaurelia. Recent data on the frequency of occurrence of the species in Europe are given in the paper.
The paramecium strain, originating from Japan, Yamaguchi, belongs to Paramecium jenningsi (type of micronuclei, appearance of autogamy, presence of two macronuclear anlagen, dimensions of cells, and the RAPD fingerprints). The finding of Paramecium jenningsi in Japan enlarges the range of the species believed to be limited to a warm or even tropical climate.