ID freshwater microbes from wetlands 100x

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dia_dd
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Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 4:17 am

ID freshwater microbes from wetlands 100x

#1 Post by dia_dd » Wed Jul 01, 2020 9:20 pm

Hi all,

I am hoping someone can help me ID some various pond microbes. Any help would be great since I plan to use these to get kids interested in microbes 8-)

Brown amoeba looking organism: https://youtu.be/uaVvAVsJD5w
Almost looks like a leaf/worm: https://youtu.be/QZ11teMyNf0
Jellyfish looking rotifer?: https://youtu.be/d2T1OVA8v4I

Bruce Taylor
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Re: ID freshwater microbes from wetlands 100x

#2 Post by Bruce Taylor » Wed Jul 01, 2020 11:27 pm

1. A very flexible hypotrich ciliate. It's probably a urostylid, but we don't see it closely enough to be sure.
2. A ciliate, probably in the genus Loxophyllum, but it could also be Bryophyllum (a closer view would be helpful)
3. A rotifer in the genus Platyias.

BramHuntingNematodes
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Location: Georgia, USA

Re: ID freshwater microbes from wetlands 100x

#3 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Wed Jul 01, 2020 11:57 pm

Bruce Taylor wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 11:27 pm
1. A very flexible hypotrich ciliate. It's probably a urostylid, but we don't see it closely enough to be sure.
2. A ciliate, probably in the genus Loxophyllum, but it could also be Bryophyllum (a closer view would be helpful)
3. A rotifer in the genus Platyias.
*Blows imaginary smoke from tips of finger guns*
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

dia_dd
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 4:17 am

Re: ID freshwater microbes from wetlands 100x

#4 Post by dia_dd » Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:10 am

Bruce Taylor wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 11:27 pm
1. A very flexible hypotrich ciliate. It's probably a urostylid, but we don't see it closely enough to be sure.
2. A ciliate, probably in the genus Loxophyllum, but it could also be Bryophyllum (a closer view would be helpful)
3. A rotifer in the genus Platyias.
Wow, thank you so much! What is a little confusing is that Google is showing mostly plants for Bryophyllum.

Could you by chance help me ID this microbe which I think could be Euplotes?: https://youtu.be/i54xHkDX_Pw

Bruce Taylor
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Re: ID freshwater microbes from wetlands 100x

#5 Post by Bruce Taylor » Thu Jul 02, 2020 11:50 am

dia_dd wrote:
Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:10 am
Wow, thank you so much! What is a little confusing is that Google is showing mostly plants for Bryophyllum.

Could you by chance help me ID this microbe which I think could be Euplotes?: https://youtu.be/i54xHkDX_Pw
Yup, Bryophyllum is also a succulent plant. We're stuck with overlapping systems of nomenclature, unfortunately...one for "plants" and the other for "animals." Of course, ciliates are not animals, but the systems were in place before we knew that. :D Back in the day, non-photosynthetic microbes were believed to be primitive animals, so their names were regulated by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). "Plants" (which, in the past, included photosynthetic "algae", as well as fungi) were covered by a separate botanical code (ICBN, now ICN). As a result, Lacrymaria is a ciliate, but also a mushroom. Peranema is a euglenoid flagellate, but also a fern (worse yet, the flagellate has a different name under ICN...they call it Pseudoperanema!)

The critter in your video is indeed Euplotes. :) And, further to the above...I think the rotifer is Platyias patulus. I'm not a rotifer guy, but the shape is pretty distinctive. And, on reflection, the reddish pigment of that first ciliate, combined with its shape and behaviour, mark it quite certainly as a urostyloid.

dia_dd
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 4:17 am

Re: ID freshwater microbes from wetlands 100x

#6 Post by dia_dd » Fri Jul 03, 2020 7:42 am

Bruce Taylor wrote:
Thu Jul 02, 2020 11:50 am
Yup, Bryophyllum is also a succulent plant. We're stuck with overlapping systems of nomenclature, unfortunately...one for "plants" and the other for "animals." Of course, ciliates are not animals, but the systems were in place before we knew that. :D Back in the day, non-photosynthetic microbes were believed to be primitive animals, so their names were regulated by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). "Plants" (which, in the past, included photosynthetic "algae", as well as fungi) were covered by a separate botanical code (ICBN, now ICN). As a result, Lacrymaria is a ciliate, but also a mushroom. Peranema is a euglenoid flagellate, but also a fern (worse yet, the flagellate has a different name under ICN...they call it Pseudoperanema!)

The critter in your video is indeed Euplotes. :) And, further to the above...I think the rotifer is Platyias patulus. I'm not a rotifer guy, but the shape is pretty distinctive. And, on reflection, the reddish pigment of that first ciliate, combined with its shape and behaviour, mark it quite certainly as a urostyloid.
Thank you for this background information, it is very interesting! You sound very knowledgeable on microbes, do you have a science background?

Thanks for the IDs. I'm new at this and was just googling ciliates and looking at pictures which is not very efficient :lol: plus to my untrained eye, some organisms look a lot alike :oops:

Bruce Taylor
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Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 11:34 am

Re: ID freshwater microbes from wetlands 100x

#7 Post by Bruce Taylor » Sat Jul 04, 2020 1:59 pm

dia_dd wrote:
Fri Jul 03, 2020 7:42 am
Thank you for this background information, it is very interesting! You sound very knowledgeable on microbes, do you have a science background?
Nope. My background is in poetry. :) My foreground seems to have lots of science in it, though. ;)

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