Taxonomic study on the composition of epiphytic algae living on submerged leaf and root tissues of macrophyte Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms-Loubach, found at Laguna de Bay, Philippines was conducted. In total, 21 algal taxa were identified: seven Cyanophyceae, six Euglenophyceae, five Chlorophyceae, two Trebouxiophyceae and one Klebsormidiophyceae. Of these taxa, the occurrence of two rare cyanobacteria, Pseudanabaena minima (G.S. An) Anagnostidis and Synechococcus nidulans (Pringsheim) Komárek are reported for the first time in the Philippines. Two species are also reported here for the first time in the Philippines based on current taxonomic nomenclature and these are Pseudopediastrum boryanum (Turpin) E. Hegewald, Phormidium granulatum (Gardner) Anagnostidis which were based on the former names of Pediastrum boryanum (Turpin) Meneghini and Oscillatoria granulata Gardner, respectively. These taxonomic records are considered important basal information in enriching the knowledge about the diversity and habitat distribution of cyanobacteria and microalgae on macrophytes found in freshwater habitats in the Philippines.
Few data are available on soil ciliates from Asia. Thus, seven samples were collected in Singapore in February 1987 and investigated between December 1987 and May 1989, using the non-flooded Petri dish method, live observation, and silver impregnation. One hundred and three ciliate taxa, all new for the fauna of Singapore and Malaysia, were found. This applies also to Hemimastix amphikineta, a highly characteristic, euglenid flagellate with Gondwanan distribution. At least three undescribed ciliate species were discovered, viz., Ottowphrya magna, which has been published by Foissner (1993), Dileptus microstoma Vd'ačný & Foissner (2008), and Suturothrix monoarmata, which is described in the present paper. The new genus Suturothrix belongs to the order Haptorida and is unique in having a heteromorphic dorsal brush consisting of three staggered rows, thus forming a suture with the last right side ciliary row. Suturothrix monoarmata is a slender, middle-sized (~ 100 × 15 μm) ciliate easily recognisable by the single or two thick extrusomes in the centre of the minute oral bulge. The species is not restricted to Asia but has been found also in soil from the Amazon floodplain, Brazil.