(Moved from the ID forum, because I think they're mostly IDed and I kind of wanted to just share the pics.)
I've been trying to take pictures/videos on my Olympus KHC. My son and I have gotten better about IDing stuff. I have here a list of "stuff we think we know". Would appreciate any comments.
Coleps (two in cell division)
Aspidisca cicada (or maybe a hypotrich?)
Stenostomum leucops
Rotifer? (I know, kind of crummy photos. It's main feature was two huge tail spikes. Maybe gastrotrich?)
Paranema
Vorticella
Colpoda
I believe all but the colpoda and vorticella was Mississippi river water taken near the bank in Minnesota. The colpoda was from some dirt and grass and snowmelt in my backyard. It's hard to get samples in freezing Minnesota winter!
want to help me check my IDs?
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Re: want to help me check my IDs?
Nice collection! The first image is likely a colepid, but not necessarily Coleps (the genus has been split, in recent years, and identification now requires a very clear view of the critter's calcified armour). The second one appears to be Aspidisca, but identification to species is not possible from this image. Third image is a flatworm, as you know. I don't see features in this image that would allow identification to genus (however, I don't know much about flatworms). And I'll ignore the rotifer, since I'm not a rotifer guy. The next one is a peranemid, and either Peranema or Jenningsia (distinguishing the two genera requires a clear view of the second flagellum, which is recurrent and attached to the cell body in Peranema, short and non-emergent in Jenningsia). The next image (which you're calling "Vorticella") shows a bell-shaped peritrich ciliate with a stalk of indeterminate length. Unfortunately, there are many different families that fit that description. To me, it looks more like an epistylid than a vorticellid, but we don't see the stalk clearly so we can't identify it below order: Sessilida. The Colpoda is...Colpoda!
Re: want to help me check my IDs?
Thanks, Bruce! There's always so much to not know that you didn't know. Glad at least I was on the nose with Colpoda. It was my first "ooo, what's this I'm seeing?" in any of the samples. And I found a video where they were calling it a paramecium so I called it that for a while. Turns out there's not a lot of google hits for "bean shaped ciliate", but if I'd just thought to say "kidney shaped ciliate", it would have been obvious. My son and I had been calling them the "cashews".
Oh, and I will say I always wondered about the almost non-existent stalks on the "vorticella". I at least used a shot of them swallowing because I read that there are some similar ones that are distinguished by that lack. I'll have to see if I can't get some more shots together and maybe some video to help nail them down. I have one sample that is just RIFE with them, with them clustered all around every surface of the gunk in the water.
Oh, and I will say I always wondered about the almost non-existent stalks on the "vorticella". I at least used a shot of them swallowing because I read that there are some similar ones that are distinguished by that lack. I'll have to see if I can't get some more shots together and maybe some video to help nail them down. I have one sample that is just RIFE with them, with them clustered all around every surface of the gunk in the water.
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Re: want to help me check my IDs?
Yup. There are about 4,500 named species of ciliate (and maybe twice as many that haven't yet been found) so there's always plenty to learn!