Abstract
Two "well-known" marine suctorian ciliates, Epheltoa gemmipara (Hertwig, 1876) Butschli, 1889 and Ephelota crustaceorum Haller. 1880. isolated from coastal waters near Qingdao (Tsingtao), China, were reinvestigated using both live observations and protargol impregnation methods. Based on the previous and the current studies, improved diagnoses for both species are supplied. A brief description of the asexual division process in Ephelota gemmipara is also presented. which can be summarized as follows: initially the basal bodies that give rise to the locomotor cilia in the transient larval (swarmer) stage appear to undergo multiplication before the budding process has commenced. The mastoid buds then develop in the apical region of the body. and one clongated branch of the parental macronucleus enters each bud. The buds undergo further development for several hours before eventually becoming swarmer which depart from the parent cell, swimming freely in the water.