Tintinnids (Ciliophora: Tintinnida) from Mexico: a checklist

The order Tintinnida comprises 14 families and includes marine, estuarine, and freshwater planktonic ciliates. The goal of this paper is to provide an updated species checklist of Mexican tintinnids for which we revised and checked all available records including some data of their distribution. We obtained the records for 203 species of tintinnids, representing 40 genera and 12 families. The genera Tintinnopsis and Eutintinnus contained the highest number of species. The vast majority of species (199) were recorded in marine habitats. The Southern Gulf of Mexico ecoregion had the highest species richness (87), although some ecoregions have not been studied.