MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Agreed, very nice images. I will second about what was said about Spirogyra ; most species seem to be distinguished at least in part by the shape of zygospores, which are only produced during conjugation between filaments. The water flea is not actually Daphnia pulex , but a close relative in the sa...

Well, you have had a better look than I have. But Collotheca are very distinctive; they don't have coronal lobes with the usual wheels of cilia to sweep in debris, and instead the mouth is surrounded by knobs that collapse when contacted by prey. If Thorp & Covich (2001) is your reference, you might...

These are very neat to see; I'm another who has never found any of the colonial types, and would second the question as to what kind of microhabitat they were in. I figured they deserve to be called more than just generic rotifers, so just for the record I think these are Conochilus , Testudinella ,...

The 1954 Prescott text: " five species of this genus ( Glaucocystis) involve an endophytic blue-green alga and a colorless member of the Oocystaceae in the Chlorophyta.". Prescott is very obsolete on that point, though. Glaucocystis is not a chlorophyte at all, but part of the separate little group...

The blue-green in glaucophytes like Glaucocystis comes from phycobilins, the same pigment type as in cyanobacteria. In most pictures its chloroplasts or cyanelles are more lobed, and I'm sure they would never look so bright grass-green as here, where they are the same as the chloroplasts in the fila...

I will second Anisonema . You can see a hint of a large flagellar pocket, in place of any developed ingestion apparatus like some other gliding euglenoids. The oval shape and much longer trailing flagellum are typical. These are actually posterior gliders – it may look like it is just dragging behin...

A long time ago there was a book in our school's library that was a key for identifying many types of protozoans. I think there is a good chance that was How to Know the Protozoa ; I found a digital copy of the 1st edition at HathiTrust . I grew up with the 2nd edition, and it gave a nice first vie...

Definitely an amoeba test, but not actually Arcella ; both this and hkv's link are really Centropyxis . Both have flattened shells but these are bilaterally symmetric, with the opening toward the front and often spines along the back. They also incorporate attached debris so have a rougher look to t...

This is a nice image. I won't pretend to know which of the many Phacus it is, but it seems to me it does have a long and slightly curved spine, only below the plane of focus. More curious is the little green projection at the base, which looks like a small hitch-hiker, maybe something like a small C...

How small amoebae move lets you narrow them down a little. In contrast to Amoebozoa which generally move by slower streaming, this one moves by fast eruptions at the front, which is characteristic of the smaller group Heterolobosea (= most Percolozoa). Some better-known examples are Vahlkampfia , Te...

Thanks for the additional images, Bill. The first of the two doesn't have a collar like the one you started with, but it still has a terminal opening, and both look globular in shape. This is different from Centropyxis shells, which are flattened with a round opening on the underside (and typically ...

The other diatoms are Rhoicosphenia, named for their characteristic curved wedge shape. I think it's interesting where you found them; I've seen them in a few places but always associated with Cladophora, a close relative of Rhizoclonium.

It's a very interesting result to me! As a rule, a single new cladogram should be taken with a good dose of salt, I'd say especially when it contradicts relationships that seem very well-established. Those very often get overturned or at least left questionable with new data. But this is the first t...

No, I think seb had it right in the original post some years ago, this was a filamentous diatom. It's true that setting colour aside, it looks a bit like a small Bangia or less indented Hyalotheca , but the last two photos show entirely different detail from those. You can see both fine interlocking...

This is an interesting amoeba. Are you sure it was the same as the ones with spines, and if so where would they be? The round shape and lobed collar look typical of some genera like Netzelia rather than Centropyxis , but those wouldn't have any. (In case it might help, there are nice descriptions of...

The first is indeed Vaucheria , no question, showing oogonia and I think an empty antheridium. Contrary to the link it isn't actually part of the Chlorophyceae, but belongs among the heterokont algae. The second shows cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae); the two enlarged and pale cells, called heter...

It's interesting! It's not a collembolan, though. Those have abdomens with up to six segments, lack cerci, and notably have mouthparts that are enclosed (as do proturans and diplurans). Since this has exposed mandibles, even with projecting palps, it is some kind of insect proper. I'm not sure what ...

Does anyone know how accurate the taxonomy is? Have there been major revisions in the Rotifera classifications since this was written? It's not quite modern. We still use orders Bdelloida and Ploima but boundaries of the latter have changed, and the other orders are shuffled into it or the Gnesiotr...

Bruce or Josh can tell you for sure. For sure might be a tall order, but here's what I know. Coleps – and the other colepids, which are mostly distinguished by details of the plates – divide in the middle to give daughters arranged front-to-back. Those cells are easy to recognize, since each keeps ...

Mosquito larvae hang at the surface but there are other aquatic fly larvae that do not, like midges, which in at least my experience are much more common. Those include some red larvae with hemoglobin that get called blood worms – for instance in fish food – but there are also various little red oli...

This is a nice image but not actually a Loxophyllum . I'm afraid right now your other image isn't showing up for me, so I can't compare them. In any case, though, they typically have a distinct series of warts running along the indented edge, as well as a clear margin along the other edge – both ass...

There are in fact some biflagellate spores – gekko's Dictyuchus video gives a neat example – but I'd be surprised if this isn't some protozoan. Like Charlie says, it looks very much like Bodo ; according to Patterson's guide those "attach to the substrate by one flagellum, and are easily distinguish...

This text is stated 2006 with authors listed. Then:"Her Magisty the Queen,2011..in right of Canada". Is this copyright traditions of UK/Canada colaborations? This shows up in government publications. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state, and although this is obviously related to her being the qu...

This is a nicely detailed video but not actually a nematode, which are not contractile like this. It is instead an oligochaete, from the same group as the much larger earthworms, sharing bodies divided into segments marked by bristles or chaetae. Here I think the presence of eyespots and differentia...

It does look a lot like a flatworm from this picture, but with just the head it is hard to be sure. I think it might actually be an oligochaete worm; near the bottom you can see two little groups of rods, which look like the bundles of setae you would find in Nais and its relatives.

JimT, apologies, I didn't consider that the video tags might not work for everyone. Here is a link instead. Thanks, billben74 and gekko. For the record, the sample was full of Volvox but most were relatively small, from about 0.2-0.7 mm. The Phaenocora themselves were around 2½ mm when they stretch ...

It's been a while since I have posted anything here. In the hope of getting some use of my collected videos, and testing some newer software for them, I've now gotten to uploading some footage of mating in freshwater flatworms. I can't say all 3½ minutes here are eventful, but I thought it might be ...

The see-saw is right but to be clear the valves are as much "top" as "sides", so while it is a girdle view it is not the usual perpendicular from valve view. Instead of my analogy, I guess it would be better to give a picture. Here is an SEM I found from Western Diatoms ; the cell is shorter and mor...

Do not think it is visible from from this side. One can see the indentations halfway up on both sides that seem to indicate the central nodule position. The stacks show beautiful detail but of course make things seem kind of flat, and while many diatoms are genuinely flat-topped, this looks like a ...

Bubbles like that are mainly storage. Like exmarine says, diatoms and related groups produce oil in addition to carbohydrates as their main reserves, and it can also help some with flotation. I think though only the smaller droplets will be oil. When there are one or two larger bodies, they are volu...