MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Thank you very much for the reference and the link!

Thank you, Bruce, in the right direction again! Dr. Michael Plewka has kindly pointed me to a reference in the great work by Foissner, Berger & Kohmann: "Taxonomische und Ökologische Revision der Ciliaten des Saprobiensystems – Band III: Hymenostomata, Prostomatida, Nassulida." On page 338 it reads ...

Thank you once more for the info, Bruce. Although all my samples with Stentor are fresh water ones (large puddles, ponds, river backwaters, reservoirs) I will be on the lookout for a possible encounter with Condylostomides . Concerning Stentor multiformis , I have never found it. Although I have som...

Hi everyone in the microworld! Yesterday I stumbled upon another interesting phenomenon. In the attached video you can see an individual of Holophrya (perhaps H. teres ) attached to the substrate by a filament. Holophrya apparently struggles to escape (or simply continue on its way) several times, u...

I often find dwarf forms of the genus Stentor in my samples. Although they do not have the size or shape typical of each species, they are easy to recognize thanks to the AZM and the paroral membrane, as well as the color (the color in Stentor coeruleus and Stentor igneus is typical). You can see an...

It is certainly a Peritrich Ciliate in its loriga, perhaps Cothurnia annulata.

No moss, just plant debris blown by the wind and some aquatic vegetation. In fact, I searched the sample intensively, but no similar individuals appeared, only some P. bursaria (but no Bryometopus).

I will try and take new samples from the same place as soon as possible. Thanks, Bruce!

This organism appeared a few days ago in a sample from the banks of a reservoir. Since I did not see any more similar individuals, I assumed that it could be a mutant individual of Paramecium bursaria , a frequent (but not abundant) species lately. However, looking at the video more closely I now th...

Wow! Right on target!

Thank you very much!

Here you are a new critter with a high resemblance to others we have talked about in previous posts.



Perhaps Bursaridium. Anyway, I have not met neither Bursaridium nor this one before.

Thank you for any help.

It seems to be a telotroch form of some Peritrich ciliate.

It looks to me like a mutant or deformed Hypotrich, IMHO.

I have sometimes found entire populations of Hypotrichs with various mutations (a real monsters parade!). The samples came from ponds where pesticide discharges.

Let's wait for the opinion of the experts.

This is great, thank you for so much information!

I do not have any institutional access to commercial scientific journals, but I will try to access through the "back door" of free versions (ResearchGate, etc).

Glad you liked it, Bruce! Your video is quite illustrative. Yours and mine, both critters seem to be the same so I stick to Stylonychia sp. I assume it is a resting cyst, not a reproductive one.

Do you happen to have some information about Hypotrichia and their cysts?

Thank you very much!

Here is a freshwater (from a lithotelma) Hypotrich Ciliate going round and round inside its cyst and finally escaping from it. This is my first time with such a critter. I had no idea about cysts in Hypotrichia.



Any idea about ID? Thank you!

You are right, my critter could be Condylostomides (a genus I did not know). But I have to do some Google research about Bursaria.

Too bad that my unknown critter has not shown up in later samples!

Thank you very much indeed.

I am sorry I have to disagree this time, Bruce. It doesn't look to me like Stentor at all. There is no Stentor in the samples I have extracted from that site (some cow footprints, by the way!). I have seen many Stentor specimens in recent months and I know how they contract and change shape (beautif...

I have been shifting from one species to another and beyond, to no avail. This critter is big, but to my understanding not as big as Bursaria truncatella , an organism I have observed many times. As size does matter, I have ruled out Bursaria even though it has a vermiform nucleus, like my critter. ...

Well, as far as we can go for now, problem solved (or this what I might think! ).

Thank You very much once again, Bruce!

Here again searching help to ID a new freshwater critter.

Since its features are clear, it should be easy to ID, but I do confess that I still haven't become used to this difficult group.



Thank you everyone for any hint.

And who is not lost in this microworld?

Check this: https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/lesser-yoke-moss

Good luck!

Once again I have to thank you, Bruce. Not only for your kindness and skill, but for forgiving me for the use of the dark field while I attempt to accurately determine a critter. Shame on me. :oops: I stick to S. amphoriforme complex. On the basis of the cell shape, I think it's likely to be a speci...

I am glad you liked it! This my everyday setup (for now): Microscope: OMAX - M837ZL-C180U3 https://shorturl.at/hBKLN Objectives: 4x, 10x and 40x from the pack, and 60x objective (dry) (model AmScope A60). Eyepiece: 10x from the pack inserted in the photographic tube. Smartphone to eyepiece adapter. ...

I'm sorry to say that I have given up after searching for this critter in Kahl's work and in Foissner's Monograph on the Spathidiida. Perhaps amphoriforme?

From wet moss (maybe muscorum?)



Any help heartily welcome!

A scale would be useful. Maybe Askenasia?

Thanks Bruce, I've read the article you attached and as far as I understand, it looks like my critters are real Paramecium bursaria. That's a great relief!

Wow, Bruce! Let me thank you with all my heart for this new Protozoology lesson (including the valuable references). By the way, the first link appears incomplete (it may be too long), it should be this: Paramecium genus: biodiversity, some morphological features and the key to the main morphospecie...

Hello everybody! I have to apologize once again for uploading a dark field video, I know that it is difficult to determine the characteristics of protozoa with this method. The critter in this video is a little hard to identify for me (although by now I am supposed to know several species of paramec...

If so, it is my first time with this critter:



From a freshwater sample from an ephemeral pond. You can read that this ciliate is conspicuous because of the colored food vacuoles filled with Rhodobacteria. But my critter has few purple vacuoles.

Any help welcome! Thank you everybody.