Testate amoeba Lesquereusia

[cuxlander]

Hello,
I would like to show you this interesting 144 µm high asymmetrically shaped Lesquereusia spiralis.
The worm-like objects covering the surface are silicious rods produced by the organism (idiosomes).
These are stored within the shell until it divides and passes them on to the new test.



(Stack of 15 frames by Picolay)
Greetings,
Hans

[Seb28]

Very nice.

[hkv]

Very nice! Looks almost like a brain.

[zzffnn]

Very nice!

I wonder if there is a micromanipulator who can permanently mount ameoba tests? I have not heard of one and wonder why. Those tests are on average bigger than diatoms and probably do not need much cleaning. Maybe ameobas are not as easy to find as diatoms, or maybe the tests are not hard enough to be mounted?

[billben74]

Very interesing image and information

[billbillt]

Yes.. A strange but very interesting subject.. Thanks for sharing!...

BillT

[cuxlander]

Hello,
pleased that you like the image.
@zzffn: Permanent mounts of testate amoebae are done by many people.
You need of course a clean specimen. Wilfried Schoenborn writes (my translation) "preparation takes place on the slide. Isolate the specimen, rinse it in 70% alcohol to get rid of water. Mount it under cover glass in Euparal". Canada balsam is also used. The Microbiology Slide Collection at the Natural History Museum contains hundreds of slides made around 1900 by Eugène Penard. Penard used balsam.
It takes a special breed to do this fussy work, I have not dared yet.

Maybe ameobas are not as easy to find

No they are quite common. In sphagnum you may find the nicest and most interesting species, but they are almost everywhere, however, not in plankton. They need a surface.
Cheers,
Hans

[Johann]

Very nice - and thanks for sharing the info

[75RR]

Pretty amazing teste, reminds me of brain coral.

In sphagnum you may find the nicest and most interesting species ...

Do you soak the sphagnum for a while and then extract a drop of the water?

[cuxlander]

Hi 75RR,
If the sphagnum is floating or soaking wet you just squeeze it gently:



or if the sphagnum is very dense, use the lid of your sample bottle:



Dry sphagnum soak in water, wait an hour and continue as in a. above.
Greetings,
Hans


PS add some sphagnum plant to your sample and the sample may stay alive for months.

[zzffnn]

^ Sometimes I collect diatoms and other protists that way from pond plants. I also scrape rocks and tree branches with green algae. I have not seen sphagnum though, maybe that is why I have not seen many ameobas. Thank you.

[75RR]

Thanks for the tips on sphagnum :)

[gekko]

Very interesting, and yes, it does look like a brain. Thank you for sharing it.