A recent paper on Ophrydium: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs ... /jeu.12900
Search found 1002 matches
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 1:57 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Star Colony - Stentor?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 129
Re: Star Colony - Stentor?
- Wed Apr 24, 2024 8:40 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Star Colony - Stentor?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 129
Re: Star Colony - Stentor?
Great find!
These are not Stentors. This is a colony of the peritrich ciliate Ophrydium (a variety without zoochlorellae, such as O. crassicaule or O. sessile).
These are not Stentors. This is a colony of the peritrich ciliate Ophrydium (a variety without zoochlorellae, such as O. crassicaule or O. sessile).
- Wed Apr 24, 2024 8:33 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Trichamoeba ameba
- Replies: 2
- Views: 86
Re: Trichamoeba ameba
That's beautiful! How big is this creature? It seems to have multiple nuclei. I suspect it could be Pelomyxa.
- Tue Apr 23, 2024 11:51 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Euglena? shapeshifting
- Replies: 5
- Views: 226
Re: Euglena? shapeshifting
Another possibility: Distigma proteus.
- Mon Apr 22, 2024 10:00 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Euglena? shapeshifting
- Replies: 5
- Views: 226
Re: Euglena? shapeshifting
So, it is probably Heteronema.I believe I did observe two flagella
- Mon Apr 22, 2024 2:08 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Euglena? shapeshifting
- Replies: 5
- Views: 226
Re: Euglena? shapeshifting
Nice! It is a non-photosynthetic euglenid (i.e. heterotrophic) (but that doesn't quite rule out Euglena since that genus now includes a species, previously assigned to Astasia , which has shed its chloroplasts). That kind of movement, which is called "metaboly", is typical of certain species of Hete...
- Tue Apr 09, 2024 11:06 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Is this the flagellate Petalomonas?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1492
Re: Is this the flagellate Petalomonas?
If there are 2 flagella it rules out Petalomonas , which has just one. I think the length of the flagella is indeterminable, because depth of field is limited. I believe this is probably a ploeotid of some kind (e.g. Lentomonas corrugata , Ploeotia , Olkasia ). However, I don't have much experience ...
- Mon Apr 08, 2024 4:30 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Is this the flagellate Petalomonas?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1492
Re: Is this the flagellate Petalomonas?
We see an ovoid heterotrophic euglenoid with a strongly ribbed pellicle, but I can't make out an ingestion apparatus or any flagella. I don't see how we can rule out a strongly ribbed biflagellate, like certain species of Ploeotia and Entosiphon . Is there a particular species of Petalomonas you had...
- Mon Apr 08, 2024 3:55 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: A fungal hypha attacking and sticking Holophrya?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1438
Re: A fungal hypha attacking and sticking Holophrya?
A lot has changed since 1994, when that (indispensable!) volume was published. :) Shortly before his death, Foissner published a complete nomenclatural revision of the holophryids, dividing Holophrya into four genera. These are distinguished by details of the brosse, which can sometimes be seen in t...
- Mon Apr 08, 2024 1:04 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: What Does It Mean To Say One Ciliate Eats Another
- Replies: 21
- Views: 2109
Re: What Does It Mean To Say One Ciliate Eats Another
If many ciliates are getting nutrition from just absorbing protein from the medium--the biofilm, why do they have to move around? Nearly all ciliates get their nutrients by ingesting smaller organisms (phagocytosis), though some combine this with other strategies (like borrowing nutrients from endo...
- Sun Apr 07, 2024 11:38 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: A fungal hypha attacking and sticking Holophrya?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1438
Re: A fungal hypha attacking and sticking Holophrya?
That holophryid is attempting to swallow the long filament. Being single-celled and not equipped with eyes it has no way of knowing that the object it is trying to consume is too big. :D It seems to have broken off a bit of it, but eventually gives up on trying to eat the rest. Holophryids and Ophry...
- Thu Apr 04, 2024 5:36 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: A couple of notable giants from a sluggish creek.
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1346
Re: A couple of notable giants from a sluggish creek.
It's easy to get the swan-like ciliates mixed up. Another one to watch for is Amphileptus procerus , which resembles Litonotus cygnus but has multiple contractile vacuoles and a little fan of toxicysts at the tip of the proboscis. And some dileptids ( Dileptus in the old sense) can look pretty swan-...
- Thu Apr 04, 2024 3:20 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: What Does It Mean To Say One Ciliate Eats Another
- Replies: 21
- Views: 2109
Re: What Does It Mean To Say One Ciliate Eats Another
Don, the kind of micro-habitat you've been exploring is sometimes called an "infusion": a natural water sample, rich in decaying matter, kept indoors and occasionally replenished with nutrients (the old-fashioned term "infusoria" is derived from this). This kind of environment tends to favour primar...
- Thu Apr 04, 2024 2:47 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Dwarf forms of Stentor: How do they originate?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 565
Re: Dwarf forms of Stentor: How do they originate?
Stentors have a remarkable ability to survive and regenerate after suffering damage. As long as a piece of the macronucleus is preserved, even a small portion of a damaged cell can recover from trauma. During regeneration, the cell is apt to look pretty strange. :D Also, while Stentors do not have ...
- Thu Apr 04, 2024 2:28 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: A couple of notable giants from a sluggish creek.
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1346
Re: A couple of notable giants from a sluggish creek.
Very nice! I especially like the phase images. The long-necked ciliate there is not Lacrymaria but Litonotus cygnus. The mouth is in a slit along the convex side of that blade-like proboscis (whereas Lacrymaria has its cytostome in a ciliated protuberance at the very tip of its "neck").
- Sun Mar 31, 2024 12:41 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: FOUND IN ACQUARIUM WATER
- Replies: 3
- Views: 665
Re: FOUND IN ACQUARIUM WATER
The most we can say is that it's in the family Vaginicolidae. We don't see the whole lorica, so identification to genus is impossible.
- Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:54 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: A monster... of one kind or another
- Replies: 2
- Views: 842
Re: A monster... of one kind or another
Was it found in moss? The mouth (or what's left of the mouth!) seems to be apical, so P. bursaria is not a candidate. B. viridis is a pretty good guess, but a lot of ciliate species have symbiotic algae, so it is far from certain. Your best hope of identification is to look for intact specimens in t...
- Thu Mar 14, 2024 11:45 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1444
Re: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
This one is Paracondylostoma.
- Mon Mar 04, 2024 4:48 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: anaesthetised paramecium
- Replies: 3
- Views: 338
Re: anaesthetised paramecium
Some very interesting ciliates are found in moss samples!
I'm in the hills of western Quebec, Canada, on the Gatineau river (about twenty minutes north of the capital, Ottawa).Whereabouts in the world are you Bruce?
- Sun Mar 03, 2024 10:03 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: anaesthetised paramecium
- Replies: 3
- Views: 338
Re: anaesthetised paramecium
Nice use of phase! These are not Paramecium, but the hymenostome Colpidium colpoda (note the single contractile vacuole and the anterior position of the oral opening).
- Sat Mar 02, 2024 4:34 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Amphileptus hunting Vorticella
- Replies: 7
- Views: 529
Re: Hemiophrys Pleurosigma hunting Vorticella
Fabulous video! Most species of " Hemiophrys " have been transferred to Amphileptus , and this includes A. pleurosigma . The genus is still considered valid, but has only a few species left, and I don't think this is one of them. Your ciliate is surely an Amphileptus , but there are about 60 species...
- Thu Feb 29, 2024 2:58 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Mystery Ciliate (to me, anyway!)
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1002
- Thu Feb 29, 2024 12:13 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Ciliates again
- Replies: 3
- Views: 348
Re: Ciliates again
They don't see anything to grab at so what's going on here? Are they really grab-and-eat predators or is something else going on? There are two large ciliates here, both hypotrichs. The broad, darkly-coloured ones are Stylonychia . The slender ones are a species of Gonostomum , probably G. strenuum...
- Tue Feb 27, 2024 4:33 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Ciliate or a worm?
- Replies: 6
- Views: 632
Re: Ciliate or a worm?
Yes, it's a ciliate, but it's not Spirostomum , or any heterotrich. It is in class Litostomatea, subclass Haptoria. but unfortunately it is bent over, so we don't have a very clear view of its overall shape. We see a flattened cell with large posterior vesicle. An oral bulge is visible at several po...
- Mon Feb 26, 2024 6:04 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Campanella ciliate
- Replies: 10
- Views: 912
Re: Campanella ciliate
Beautiful! The stalks are much longer here, and clearly have helical spasmonemes, so these are in the family Vorticellidae. They appear to be pseudocolonies, rather than true colonies (i.e. clusters of solitary peritrichs, rather than forming branched "trees", like Carchesium ). So, Vorticella, Pseu...
- Sat Feb 24, 2024 6:25 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Campanella ciliate
- Replies: 10
- Views: 912
Re: Campanella ciliate
Zoothamnium is colonial, with branching stalks containing continuous spasmonemes (so, the entire colony contracts together). In contraction, the stalks form "zigzags" rather than spiral coils, as in Vorticellidae. Your peritrichs appear to be solitary, not colonial, and the stalks appear to be spir...
- Thu Feb 22, 2024 11:13 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Campanella ciliate
- Replies: 10
- Views: 912
Re: Campanella ciliate
Yes, they're very beautiful! Francisco, I can see why you're thinking of Campanella , because the golden colour is very similar. However, these have short contractile stalks (containing a spasmoneme, visible at 0:20-0:24), so they are definitely not in the genus Campanella , which has branching colo...
- Mon Feb 19, 2024 1:39 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Hypotrich and cyst
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1202
Re: Hypotrich and cyst
There's a lot of literature about oxytrichid cysts. Here are a few papers (the first one is a general overview of ciliate encystment): https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.785502/full https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1550-7408.1973.tb06009.x...
- Sat Feb 17, 2024 10:19 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Can anybody shed some light on this please?
- Replies: 2
- Views: 353
Re: Can anybody shed some light on this please?
This is a single ciliate in distress from some trauma, such as failure of osmotic regulation and/or coverslip compression. In the early part of the video, a bleb (that is, a bulge in the plasma membrane) has already formed on one side of the cell. Blebbing is sometimes followed by complete separatio...
- Sat Feb 17, 2024 10:07 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Hypotrich and cyst
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1202
Re: Hypotrich and cyst
Nice! It can take a while for freshly excysted ciliates to assume their mature vegetative shape, so identification is difficult. This appears to be a stylonychine (in the family Oxytrichidae), and likely Stylonychia itself. For comparison, a video I recorded a long time ago: https://www.youtube.com/...