Cochliopodium bilimbosum, an amoeba covered in scales

[tlansing]

In a recent collection, I observed a number of individuals of the amoeba Cochliopodium bilimbosum. This is an interesting amoeba because it has a hump-like cell body and an advancing, flattened pseudopod. Small pseudopods can extend from the front of the large flattened pseudopod. The cell body contains a number of granules, which can be seen in the attached video. The surface of the amoeba is covered with a layer of scales called a tectum. The scales are the bumps or spots that can be seen the flattened pseudopod in the video. The scales have a number of different shapes and structures; this link shows the variety and beauty of these scales as shown with scanning EM: http://www.penard.de/Explorer/Amoebozoa ... %20scales/

[WWWW]

Very nice video !

[ImperatorRex]

Also like the video very much, thank you tlansing.

[macnmotion]

Wow, this is really cool. Something I've never seen before. Great description to go along with the video.

[tlansing]

Thanks to all for your kind comments.

@macnmotion: You may have seen this amoeba but just not noticed it. I think they are pretty common, as I have seen them in collections I have made from several different ponds. They are small amoebae that at low power (16x with 12.5x oculars in my case) don't appear to be moving but look like a granular disk with a halo. Phase contrast or DIC really helps in seeing them. Upon closer inspection at higher magnification, you can see them moving or the granules in the cell body moving. They also remind me of Hyalodiscus, another small amoeba with a hump-like cell body and a fan-shaped pseudopod.

[macnmotion]

Thanks to all for your kind comments.

@macnmotion: You may have seen this amoeba but just not noticed it. I think they are pretty common, as I have seen them in collections I have made from several different ponds. They are small amoebae that at low power (16x with 12.5x oculars in my case) don't appear to be moving but look like a granular disk with a halo. Phase contrast or DIC really helps in seeing them. Upon closer inspection at higher magnification, you can see them moving or the granules in the cell body moving. They also remind me of Hyalodiscus, another small amoeba with a hump-like cell body and a fan-shaped pseudopod.

Thanks. I see plenty of amoebae with moving granules but I've never seen the scales. I'll look more closely.