MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hi gekko, I think this is exactly what you thought. Although most ciliates don't divide inside cysts, it's reasonably common in the class Colpodea - for example Colpoda , Bresslaua , Maryna , and Cyrtolophosis . This group is common in more terrestrial habitats, where drying out is a constant risk. ...

Since it was still enough for focus stacks, and looks to have bubbles inside, was this a moult? In any case it's not a copepod; nauplius larvae in all groups have 6 appendages, and at least in copepods turn into juveniles or copepodites with the same complement as the adult. Also all but the first p...

Another that I've found helpful:
http://craticula.ncl.ac.uk/EADiatomKey/html/index.html (for Britain and Ireland, but of course applicable to other places too)

It's a statoblast, which is a dispersal stage for most freshwater bryozoans. I think the oval shape with two distinct layers marks it as some type of plumatellid, while in other families they tend to have hooks or different forms, but I'm not certain if that rule applies everywhere.

For what it is worth, Bruce Taylor has an interview with David Patterson where they discuss a little about his micro*scope project. It seems like it was available to update as of at least March, but is mostly neglected in need of refactoring, and the latest addition looks to be from 2010. I'll also ...

If it's not too presumptuous to do a little soapboxing: In animals and fungi colours can be fairly incidental or even mutable, variously related to food, health, displays, toxins, or so on. They are more central in algae and phototrophic bacteria, though, where they are really a sort of "dietary" ni...

Hi gekko, I'm curious if these are still from the muddy patch in your yard, which has been interesting to follow. The patterns in the photos are neat, but the pigmentation characteristic of phototrophs like cyanobacteria isn't apparent. So I'd think they are more likely some other bacteria, like Zoo...

I would be very leery of exposing fish in a little closed habitat to multiple sources of water. It sounds like a good recipe to make them sick, something that would be much worse for them than river or lake fish, since any pathogens would then tend to keep reinfecting the same weakened individuals. ...

Just to offer my thoughts - personally I take my samples back to where they came from, but only keep them a few days so they don't suffer too much change like bacterial growth. But if that sort of thing is not too much of a problem and you just care to give the animals and other organisms a fighting...

Hi Jim,
This is a good photo, but not actually a mosquito larva. Those have a broad thorax and its only projections are setae; instead the prolegs on the front and end of the body mark this as a midge larva. The two groups are somewhat related, but adult midges don't bite.

No, I hadn't seen Shiel's guide before. It looks very useful, and I think should let me identify at least one type I've seen that didn't seem to be in most other sources - plus it is always nice to see a bit more on what different kinds actually eat. Thanks very much for sharing it.

Those would be spine-like toes on an otherwise reduced foot, which is characteristic for the genus. I'm afraid I don't have nearly the expertise to help beyond that. I found a paper by Segers (1996) that does confirm L. nana is found in the Neotropical region, but as one of over 80 littoral species,...

Unfortunately the foot was tucked under the Rotifer so not an ideal photo for ID purposes. Possibly, but just for the record the way the lorica is separated into plates, single eye, and that it could tuck its foot under its body do clearly show it as some type of Lecane (which currently include Mon...

Hi gekko,
Is the stalk actually connected with the object? Because if not, there are some types of shelled amoebae like Trinema that can look reasonably similar (compare for instance these from arcella.nl), and you might easily find either live ones that do not move much or empty shells in soil.