MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

A scale would be useful. Maybe Askenasia?

Thanks Bruce, I've read the article you attached and as far as I understand, it looks like my critters are real Paramecium bursaria. That's a great relief!

Wow, Bruce! Let me thank you with all my heart for this new Protozoology lesson (including the valuable references). By the way, the first link appears incomplete (it may be too long), it should be this: Paramecium genus: biodiversity, some morphological features and the key to the main morphospecie...

Hello everybody! I have to apologize once again for uploading a dark field video, I know that it is difficult to determine the characteristics of protozoa with this method. The critter in this video is a little hard to identify for me (although by now I am supposed to know several species of paramec...

If so, it is my first time with this critter:



From a freshwater sample from an ephemeral pond. You can read that this ciliate is conspicuous because of the colored food vacuoles filled with Rhodobacteria. But my critter has few purple vacuoles.

Any help welcome! Thank you everybody.

Thanks a lot Bruce!

I'll follow the clues you gave me as far as I can.

It is a pity that I have not met this nice microorganism again.

This is a freshwater ciliate, very beautiful because of the digestive vacuoles of different colors. However, these colorless, yellow and orange vacuoles (various stages of digestion of different substances, I suppose) make it impossible to recognize other details, such as the macronucleus. 3IL21iPCs...

Thank you Bruce!

Nowadays I am exploring the dark field, which in terms of videos can give very aesthetic results, although for the correct identification of microorganisms I agree the bright field cannot be substituted.

I shall upload BF videos of this critter ASAP.

Here is the cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa surrounded by hungry Frontonia cf. leucas and an army of -for me- unidentified little critters. Perhaps Tetrahymena?




Any help welcome! Thank you everybody.

Thank you Bruce and David.

After finding this post on a German forum https://www.mikroskopie-forum.de/index. ... ic=31340.0 I think now that Heliomorpha (Dimorpha) mutans or, better, Tetradimorpha tetramastix could be good candidates.

Thank you, Bruce.

I already checked Mastigamoeba but all my specimens have two flagella, not just one. Nevertheless, Mastigamoeba sports spines that resemble the appendages in my critters.

Maybe this a good clue to follow.

Thank you very much for your help, ddy5. I really did think of Naegleria but I did not find any papers explaining the bizarre protrusion of the appendages. Now I hesitate about my critter being an amoeba at all. That is bizarre. I've seen a few amoeba with what looked like flagella, but nothing like...

I have come across this freshwater organism in the last month in two different ponds. It has both flagellate and ameboid features. While moving, the cell looks like Euglena or Peranema , but it has two long flagella. When disturbed, it quickly contracts and protrudes several short and (apparently) r...

Thank you very much for taking your time to watch and analyze my videos, Bruce. Your considerations are very interesting to me. Regarding the first video, I have not found more critters like that. At first, I thought it could be a Hypotrich, later I thought of Lembadion and, finally, I returned to t...

I have to admit that this time I have no idea which way to look...





Thank you very much for any suggestion, however small!

Sorry, it is MY madness.

Excuse me, where is the link?

Thank you everybody for your help.

After reading Bruce's post, I think now It could be a miracidium larva of a flatworm searching for a host (perhaps a freshwater snail) to parasitize.

It seems Trachelius may be a good clue to follow, thank you. Just ball parking, I've had somewhat similar plump organisms with a small proboscis identified as Trachelius. My first one had the proboscis almost not visible because the organism was confined by the cover slip. Later ones showed a more v...

Your images are very good. Can you describe the setup you are using for the live specimens - scope, objectives, illumination, camera, wet-mount prep? Thanks. Thank you, Steve. Here you are: Microscope: OMAX - M837ZL-C180U3 https://www.amazon.co.uk/OMAX-40X-2500X-Trinocular-Biological-Microscope/dp/...

I have come across this organism in a freshwater sample full of Rotifers, Gastrotrichs, Amoebae ( Polychaos, Difflugia, Cylindrifflugia, Netzelia ), Ciliates ( Ophryoglena, Stentor, Holophrya, Lacrymaria ), Turbellarians ( Stenostomum ) and this little enigma . Original footage video: Jelc5I7CHdc Tr...

After some research, I think it could be a floating form of Rizhamoeba . Nonetheless, my specimens don't match some of the features of Rhizamoeba : a. It does not develop clearly monopodial forms. b. I have almost never seen them hiding under debris. c. Last but not least, I have seldom observed the...

I have found this beautiful and very active amoeba in a freshwater sample that I took a month ago. It has not begun to abound in the sample until a few days ago. The sample comes from an old disused laundry buddle in the historic city of Trujillo, Cáceres, Spain. 820KWKl6suw This amoeba seem to matc...

After this doctoral dissertation I can only say THANK YOU! Unfortunately, this critter has not shown again. I think we have to wait for next season to arrive before getting to know its real ID. Notwithstanding this, I stay alert. The amateur protozoologist never sleeps. A thousand thanks, Bruce!

A more careful search seem to suggest Nuclearia simplex.

We have a small amoeba with filopodia all around it. It boasts about a clear nucleus and a dark, round nucleolus. It also has a round contractile vacuole with short radial channels. IO4bodHKt6s A strange thing is that this specimen goes through expansion-contraction cycles. See video. I have not bee...

I'm narrowing my search. Now I think it could be Nassula aurea or more probably Nassula gracilis.

I hope experts can correct me.

I often come across teratologic specimens like this in my freshwater samples, mostly in Spirostomum rich communities.

It is my new friend Hypotrichidium conicum. Check this video to see a specimen with a remarkable osmotic swelling.

First time I ever meet this critter. It resembles Paranassula but not all its features match.



Any idea about ID? Thank you!