250 years of Tintinnid Studies: Pioneers of Tintinnid Studies

The first tintinnid ciliate was discovered and described in 1776, using just five words. Although now 250 years old, the study of tintinnids is still a very active field. According to Google Scholar, in the last 10 years, 151 works have appeared with the term “tintinnid” in the title. Early works mostly concerned species descriptions. In contrast, the recent studies have focused on a wide variety of topics: ecology, phylogeny, physiology, behavior, and biogeography. Here the beginnings of the long and rich history of tintinnid studies are traced through the stories of early workers in the period from the first descriptions, up to and including the appearance in 1929 of Kofoid and Campbell’s landmark treatise and its revision in 1939. Many are unaware of the fact that early protistologists who worked on tintinnids were prestigious biologists of their time, now known as important contributors not only to our knowledge of tintinnids, but also other groups of protists. There were ardent defenders of Darwin among the early workers. There were also often interesting interconnections between the early workers, while some began studying tintinnids almost by accident. A companion paper will shine a light on modern workers of tintinnid studies.