The first European stand of Paramecium sonneborni (P. aurelia complex), a species known only from North America (Texas, USA)

P. aurelia is currently defined as a complex of 15 sibling species including 14 species designated by Sonneborn (1975) and one, P. sonneborni, by Aufderheide et al. (1983). The latter was known from only one stand (Texas, USA). The main reason for the present study was a new stand of Paramecium in Cyprus, with strains recognized as P. sonneborni based on the results of strain crosses, cytological slides, and molecular analyses of three loci (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2-5′LSU rDNA, COI, CytB). The new stand of P. sonneborni in Europe shows that the species, previously considered endemic, may have a wider range. This demonstrates the impact of under-sampling on the knowledge of the biogeography of microbial eukaryotes. Phylogenetic trees based on all the studied fragments revealed that P. sonneborni forms a separate cluster that is closer to P. jenningsi and P. schewiakoffi than to the other members of the P. aurelia complex.