Search found 986 matches
- Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:54 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: A monster... of one kind or another
- Replies: 2
- Views: 262
Re: A monster... of one kind or another
Was it found in moss? The mouth (or what's left of the mouth!) seems to be apical, so P. bursaria is not a candidate. B. viridis is a pretty good guess, but a lot of ciliate species have symbiotic algae, so it is far from certain. Your best hope of identification is to look for intact specimens in t...
- Thu Mar 14, 2024 11:45 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 822
Re: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
This one is Paracondylostoma.
- Mon Mar 04, 2024 4:48 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: anaesthetised paramecium
- Replies: 3
- Views: 273
Re: anaesthetised paramecium
Some very interesting ciliates are found in moss samples!
I'm in the hills of western Quebec, Canada, on the Gatineau river (about twenty minutes north of the capital, Ottawa).Whereabouts in the world are you Bruce?
- Sun Mar 03, 2024 10:03 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: anaesthetised paramecium
- Replies: 3
- Views: 273
Re: anaesthetised paramecium
Nice use of phase! These are not Paramecium, but the hymenostome Colpidium colpoda (note the single contractile vacuole and the anterior position of the oral opening).
- Sat Mar 02, 2024 4:34 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Amphileptus hunting Vorticella
- Replies: 7
- Views: 390
Re: Hemiophrys Pleurosigma hunting Vorticella
Fabulous video! Most species of " Hemiophrys " have been transferred to Amphileptus , and this includes A. pleurosigma . The genus is still considered valid, but has only a few species left, and I don't think this is one of them. Your ciliate is surely an Amphileptus , but there are about 60 species...
- Thu Feb 29, 2024 2:58 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Mystery Ciliate (to me, anyway!)
- Replies: 3
- Views: 411
- Thu Feb 29, 2024 12:13 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Ciliates again
- Replies: 3
- Views: 289
Re: Ciliates again
They don't see anything to grab at so what's going on here? Are they really grab-and-eat predators or is something else going on? There are two large ciliates here, both hypotrichs. The broad, darkly-coloured ones are Stylonychia . The slender ones are a species of Gonostomum , probably G. strenuum...
- Tue Feb 27, 2024 4:33 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Ciliate or a worm?
- Replies: 6
- Views: 413
Re: Ciliate or a worm?
Yes, it's a ciliate, but it's not Spirostomum , or any heterotrich. It is in class Litostomatea, subclass Haptoria. but unfortunately it is bent over, so we don't have a very clear view of its overall shape. We see a flattened cell with large posterior vesicle. An oral bulge is visible at several po...
- Mon Feb 26, 2024 6:04 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Campanella ciliate
- Replies: 10
- Views: 696
Re: Campanella ciliate
Beautiful! The stalks are much longer here, and clearly have helical spasmonemes, so these are in the family Vorticellidae. They appear to be pseudocolonies, rather than true colonies (i.e. clusters of solitary peritrichs, rather than forming branched "trees", like Carchesium ). So, Vorticella, Pseu...
- Sat Feb 24, 2024 6:25 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Campanella ciliate
- Replies: 10
- Views: 696
Re: Campanella ciliate
Zoothamnium is colonial, with branching stalks containing continuous spasmonemes (so, the entire colony contracts together). In contraction, the stalks form "zigzags" rather than spiral coils, as in Vorticellidae. Your peritrichs appear to be solitary, not colonial, and the stalks appear to be spir...
- Thu Feb 22, 2024 11:13 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Campanella ciliate
- Replies: 10
- Views: 696
Re: Campanella ciliate
Yes, they're very beautiful! Francisco, I can see why you're thinking of Campanella , because the golden colour is very similar. However, these have short contractile stalks (containing a spasmoneme, visible at 0:20-0:24), so they are definitely not in the genus Campanella , which has branching colo...
- Mon Feb 19, 2024 1:39 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Hypotrich and cyst
- Replies: 4
- Views: 644
Re: Hypotrich and cyst
There's a lot of literature about oxytrichid cysts. Here are a few papers (the first one is a general overview of ciliate encystment): https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.785502/full https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1550-7408.1973.tb06009.x...
- Sat Feb 17, 2024 10:19 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Can anybody shed some light on this please?
- Replies: 2
- Views: 312
Re: Can anybody shed some light on this please?
This is a single ciliate in distress from some trauma, such as failure of osmotic regulation and/or coverslip compression. In the early part of the video, a bleb (that is, a bulge in the plasma membrane) has already formed on one side of the cell. Blebbing is sometimes followed by complete separatio...
- Sat Feb 17, 2024 10:07 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Hypotrich and cyst
- Replies: 4
- Views: 644
Re: Hypotrich and cyst
Nice! It can take a while for freshly excysted ciliates to assume their mature vegetative shape, so identification is difficult. This appears to be a stylonychine (in the family Oxytrichidae), and likely Stylonychia itself. For comparison, a video I recorded a long time ago: https://www.youtube.com/...
- Fri Feb 16, 2024 5:57 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Unknown freshwater ciliate
- Replies: 3
- Views: 569
Re: Unknown freshwater ciliate
We see a stiff, domed cell, with a long AZM, strong caudal cirri and no marginal cirri. It's Euplotes sp., seen from the dorsal aspect. The critter is in some distress: the contractile vacuole is distended, the caudal cirri are rather floppy, and the cell is spinning erratically.
- Tue Jan 30, 2024 8:14 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 822
Re: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
Hmmm...assuming this is not from a marine sample, there aren't too many other heterotrich candidates. Linostomella (previously known as Linostoma) is too small. I suppose Condylostomides could be a contender. It could be I'm misinterpreting the footage, of course. :) Heterotrichs typically have clea...
- Tue Jan 30, 2024 6:05 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 822
Re: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
To me, it looks like a very squashed heterotrich, but I don't see anything to suggest it is Climacostumum . It would not be unusual to find Climacostomum without algal endosymbionts (I see them quite often), but members of that genus always have a prominent vacuole in the posterior, with collecting ...
- Tue Jan 30, 2024 12:52 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1548
Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Only if our paper is accepted for publication.
- Tue Jan 30, 2024 4:33 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Frontonia angusta ciliate
- Replies: 2
- Views: 317
Re: Frontonia atra ciliate
A beautiful video. I don't think it is F. atra. It is not a very darkly pigmented cell, and lacks a distinctly pigmented anterior spot. I would suspect Frontonia angusta.
- Thu Jan 25, 2024 4:14 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Lily pollen
- Replies: 9
- Views: 694
Re: Lily pollen
Those are gorgeous! They make me want to learn how to colorize images.
- Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:55 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Arcella dentata
- Replies: 9
- Views: 870
Re: Arcella dentata
I noted to francisco and group, how I never encountered an amobae test with such' a dense/ thick fir' You've raised an interesting point, Charlie. In more than 10 years of cell-picking I must have looked at many thousands of individual arcellinids and I have to say...the shells of living specimens ...
- Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:42 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1548
Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Thanks, Francisco and hkv. They are truly amazing creatures!
- Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:38 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: A new Hypotrich to ID
- Replies: 2
- Views: 374
Re: A new Hypotrich to ID
Since its features are clear, it should be easy to ID You might think so. ;) We don't see the arrangement of ventral cirri clearly, but other features put it in the family Oxytrichidae. It is a compact cell, somewhat elongate, with two macronuclear nodules, enlarged, trailing transverse cirri, long...
- Wed Jan 24, 2024 3:23 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1548
Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Does your facility offer such pay for use of specific instruments? As far as I know the facility is only used by museum personnel and affiliated researchers. Access to the museum laboratories and collections seems to be controlled pretty carefully (key cards, government security checks etc.). As an...
- Tue Jan 23, 2024 1:15 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1548
Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
A few more images. Like other members of its genus, Difflugia brevicolla builds its shell from found materials. This one has incorporated a diatom (center) and the cyst of a golden alga (spherical object, upper right). Difflugia brevicolla.jpg Arcella gibbosa : Arcella gibbosa.jpg And lastly, a clos...
- Mon Jan 22, 2024 8:55 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1548
- Mon Jan 22, 2024 4:37 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1548
Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
These are miraculous images. How on earth did you get them? The images were made on an Scanning Electron Microscope at a campus of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Gatineau, Quebec. Basically, I collected some nice shells, picked them out of the water with micropipettes, mounted them on aluminum "s...
- Mon Jan 22, 2024 4:31 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1548
- Mon Jan 22, 2024 1:39 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1548
Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
The discussion of Galeripora dentata on another thread prompted me to share a few images I've made of these lovely critters. Netzelia corona , from the Mer Bleue bog in Ottawa: Netzelia corona.jpg Lesquereusia gibbosa : lesquereusia gibbosa.jpg ...and Galeripora dentata , from a fen in the woods beh...
- Mon Jan 22, 2024 1:13 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Arcella dentata
- Replies: 9
- Views: 870
Re: Arcella dentata
the individual I encountered manifested active vacuoles, Hi Charlie! Arcellid amoebae have the ability to form pockets of gas, which they use to right themselves when inverted or to relocate themselves by flotation. Here's a short paper describing the behaviour in Galeripora discoides (then known a...