Search found 986 matches

by Bruce Taylor
Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:54 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: A monster... of one kind or another
Replies: 2
Views: 101

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...
by Bruce Taylor
Thu Mar 14, 2024 11:45 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
Replies: 7
Views: 746

Re: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)

This one is Paracondylostoma. :)
by Bruce Taylor
Mon Mar 04, 2024 4:48 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: anaesthetised paramecium
Replies: 3
Views: 231

Re: anaesthetised paramecium

Some very interesting ciliates are found in moss samples! :)
Whereabouts in the world are you Bruce?
I'm in the hills of western Quebec, Canada, on the Gatineau river (about twenty minutes north of the capital, Ottawa).
by Bruce Taylor
Sun Mar 03, 2024 10:03 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: anaesthetised paramecium
Replies: 3
Views: 231

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).
by Bruce Taylor
Sat Mar 02, 2024 4:34 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Amphileptus hunting Vorticella
Replies: 7
Views: 329

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...
by Bruce Taylor
Thu Feb 29, 2024 2:58 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Mystery Ciliate (to me, anyway!)
Replies: 3
Views: 360

Re: Mystery Ciliate (to me, anyway!)

NachoBen wrote:
Thu Feb 29, 2024 2:13 pm
It looks to me like a mutant or deformed Hypotrich, IMHO.
I agree.
by Bruce Taylor
Thu Feb 29, 2024 12:13 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Ciliates again
Replies: 3
Views: 254

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...
by Bruce Taylor
Tue Feb 27, 2024 4:33 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Ciliate or a worm?
Replies: 6
Views: 352

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...
by Bruce Taylor
Mon Feb 26, 2024 6:04 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Campanella ciliate
Replies: 10
Views: 624

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...
by Bruce Taylor
Sat Feb 24, 2024 6:25 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Campanella ciliate
Replies: 10
Views: 624

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...
by Bruce Taylor
Thu Feb 22, 2024 11:13 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Campanella ciliate
Replies: 10
Views: 624

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...
by Bruce Taylor
Mon Feb 19, 2024 1:39 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Hypotrich and cyst
Replies: 4
Views: 613

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...
by Bruce Taylor
Sat Feb 17, 2024 10:19 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Can anybody shed some light on this please?
Replies: 2
Views: 296

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...
by Bruce Taylor
Sat Feb 17, 2024 10:07 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Hypotrich and cyst
Replies: 4
Views: 613

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/...
by Bruce Taylor
Fri Feb 16, 2024 5:57 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Unknown freshwater ciliate
Replies: 3
Views: 547

Re: Unknown freshwater ciliate

We see a stiff, domed cell, with a long AZM, strong caudal cirri and no marginal cirri. It's Euplotes sp., seen from the dorsal aspect. The critter is in some distress: the contractile vacuole is distended, the caudal cirri are rather floppy, and the cell is spinning erratically.
by Bruce Taylor
Tue Jan 30, 2024 8:14 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
Replies: 7
Views: 746

Re: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)

Hmmm...assuming this is not from a marine sample, there aren't too many other heterotrich candidates. Linostomella (previously known as Linostoma) is too small. I suppose Condylostomides could be a contender. It could be I'm misinterpreting the footage, of course. :) Heterotrichs typically have clea...
by Bruce Taylor
Tue Jan 30, 2024 6:05 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)
Replies: 7
Views: 746

Re: A new BIG critter (maybe Climacostomum?)

To me, it looks like a very squashed heterotrich, but I don't see anything to suggest it is Climacostumum . It would not be unusual to find Climacostomum without algal endosymbionts (I see them quite often), but members of that genus always have a prominent vacuole in the posterior, with collecting ...
by Bruce Taylor
Tue Jan 30, 2024 12:52 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Replies: 21
Views: 1518

Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM

macnmotion wrote:
Tue Jan 30, 2024 9:12 am
Do you get to name this species?
Only if our paper is accepted for publication. :)
by Bruce Taylor
Tue Jan 30, 2024 4:33 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Frontonia angusta ciliate
Replies: 2
Views: 300

Re: Frontonia atra ciliate

A beautiful video. :) I don't think it is F. atra. It is not a very darkly pigmented cell, and lacks a distinctly pigmented anterior spot. I would suspect Frontonia angusta.
by Bruce Taylor
Thu Jan 25, 2024 4:14 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Lily pollen
Replies: 9
Views: 665

Re: Lily pollen

Those are gorgeous! They make me want to learn how to colorize images.
by Bruce Taylor
Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:55 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Arcella dentata
Replies: 9
Views: 865

Re: Arcella dentata

I noted to francisco and group, how I never encountered an amobae test with such' a dense/ thick fir' You've raised an interesting point, Charlie. In more than 10 years of cell-picking I must have looked at many thousands of individual arcellinids and I have to say...the shells of living specimens ...
by Bruce Taylor
Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:42 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Replies: 21
Views: 1518

Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM

Thanks, Francisco and hkv. They are truly amazing creatures!
by Bruce Taylor
Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:38 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: A new Hypotrich to ID
Replies: 2
Views: 356

Re: A new Hypotrich to ID

Since its features are clear, it should be easy to ID You might think so. ;) We don't see the arrangement of ventral cirri clearly, but other features put it in the family Oxytrichidae. It is a compact cell, somewhat elongate, with two macronuclear nodules, enlarged, trailing transverse cirri, long...
by Bruce Taylor
Wed Jan 24, 2024 3:23 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Replies: 21
Views: 1518

Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM

Does your facility offer such pay for use of specific instruments? As far as I know the facility is only used by museum personnel and affiliated researchers. Access to the museum laboratories and collections seems to be controlled pretty carefully (key cards, government security checks etc.). As an...
by Bruce Taylor
Tue Jan 23, 2024 1:15 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Replies: 21
Views: 1518

Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM

A few more images. Like other members of its genus, Difflugia brevicolla builds its shell from found materials. This one has incorporated a diatom (center) and the cyst of a golden alga (spherical object, upper right). Difflugia brevicolla.jpg Arcella gibbosa : Arcella gibbosa.jpg And lastly, a clos...
by Bruce Taylor
Mon Jan 22, 2024 8:55 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Replies: 21
Views: 1518

Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM

Francisco wrote:
Mon Jan 22, 2024 4:45 pm
Congratulations.
The images are spectacular.
Thanks, Francisco! I still have a lot to learn, but I've been pretty happy with the results, so far.
by Bruce Taylor
Mon Jan 22, 2024 4:37 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Replies: 21
Views: 1518

Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM

These are miraculous images. How on earth did you get them? The images were made on an Scanning Electron Microscope at a campus of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Gatineau, Quebec. Basically, I collected some nice shells, picked them out of the water with micropipettes, mounted them on aluminum "s...
by Bruce Taylor
Mon Jan 22, 2024 4:31 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Replies: 21
Views: 1518

Re: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM

Francisco wrote:
Mon Jan 22, 2024 4:07 pm
Magnificent images.
Do you have an SEM?
Greetings
Greetings to you too, Francisco! I do not have an SEM, but I am able to use a very nice one at the Canadian Museum of Nature, where I am a Research Associate.
by Bruce Taylor
Mon Jan 22, 2024 1:39 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM
Replies: 21
Views: 1518

Some arcellinid amoebae in SEM

The discussion of Galeripora dentata on another thread prompted me to share a few images I've made of these lovely critters. Netzelia corona , from the Mer Bleue bog in Ottawa: Netzelia corona.jpg Lesquereusia gibbosa : lesquereusia gibbosa.jpg ...and Galeripora dentata , from a fen in the woods beh...
by Bruce Taylor
Mon Jan 22, 2024 1:13 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Arcella dentata
Replies: 9
Views: 865

Re: Arcella dentata

the individual I encountered manifested active vacuoles, Hi Charlie! Arcellid amoebae have the ability to form pockets of gas, which they use to right themselves when inverted or to relocate themselves by flotation. Here's a short paper describing the behaviour in Galeripora discoides (then known a...