Next Generation Taxonomy of Ciliophora and their symbionts, with special attention to ciliates from Tuscany and South Africa

This thesis presents several instances of NGTax applied to ciliates in different ways and comtexts, both extensively and intensively, in the hope of future expansion. We describe a census of ciliate diversity in four locations in Tuscany and two in South Africa; NGTax-based descriptions of five novel species, presenting a case for the institution of class Copemetopea; and a literature review reconstructing the joint taxonomic history of Lacrymaria and Phialina, proposing the union of the two genera and evaluating the status of validity of their species.