Denis Lynn (1947–2018) was an outstanding protistologist, applying multiple techniques and data sources and thus pioneering an integrative approach in order to investigate ciliate biology. For example, he recognized the importance of the ultrastructure for inferring ciliate phylogeny, based on which he developed his widely accepted classification scheme for the phylum Ciliophora. In this paper, recent findings regarding the evolution and systematics of both peritrichs and the mainly marine planktonic oligotrichean spirotrichs are discussed and compared with the concepts and hypotheses formulated by Denis Lynn. Additionally, the state of knowledge concerning the diversity of ciliates in bromeliad phytotelmata and amitosis in ciliates is reviewed.

Denis Lynn (1947–2018) 是一位杰出的原生生物学家，他应用多种技术和数据源，因此开创了一种综合方法来研究纤毛虫生物学。例如，他认识到超微结构对于推断纤毛虫系统发育的重要性，并在此基础上开发了他广泛接受的纤毛门分类方案。在本文中，讨论了最近关于 peritrichs 和主要海洋浮游寡头螺旋藻的进化和系统学的发现，并与 Denis Lynn 提出的概念和假设进行了比较。此外，还回顾了有关凤梨科植物纤毛虫多样性和纤毛虫无丝分裂的知识状况。