1. This ciliate first came across as malformed or injured in some way, but I did notice it resembles Paradileptus. The video is not the best quality and I was not able to capture a very good view of the cilia structure, so I know any identification beyond "ciliate" is unlikely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN9dBE8SKEY
2. This ciliate is a hypotrich. I did not realize the importance of marginal cirri, and did not focus on it. So I know in the future, the marginal cirri is the cirri on the edge of the ciliate, right? Oftentimes I can see the marginal cirri, but cannot make out individual rows. Is this something that is generally easily seen? I have been using this resource: file:///home/chronos/u-9d682ab5cde1bb69c2afc06222208aef9fd94071/MyFiles/Downloads/2014-ShaoLeo-Oxytrichidaeoverview-JOUC.pdf
to learn to identify ciliates in the Oxytrichidae family. The cirri must be arranged in 2 rows of marginal cirri, and 18 fontal ventral transverse cirri. If a ciliate were to have two rows of marginal cirri, would that be two rows on each side? Or one row on each side, making two rows in all?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSUQHB0W7Wk
2 Questions
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Bruce Taylor
- Posts: 1002
- Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 11:34 am
Re: 2 Questions
The first ciliate has cirri (rather than simple cilia) and adoral membranelles, so it is a hypotrich. It does appear to be damaged, as you say (there are hypotrichs with long "tails", but this one does not look natural, to me). Paradileptus is a haptorid, and lacks cirri and membranelles, so this is certainly not one of those.
Marginal cirri are rows along the left and right margins of the ciliate. In many hypotrichs, there are only 2 rows of marginal cirri, but there are species with many. The shape and extent of the marginal rows can be a useful diagnostic character (for instance, in Holosticha, the left marginal row turns toward the right at the anterior end, and in certain oxytrichids the left and right rows meet at the posterior). For the purposes of identifying hypotrichs, frontal, transverse and ventral cirri are also important. Here, you've done a nice job of showing the anterior part of a double file of ventral cirri (a so-called "midventral complex", visible after 0:41). That feature, in combination with the tail-like process at the posterior of the cell, makes it quite likely that this is a species of Uroleptus.
Marginal cirri are rows along the left and right margins of the ciliate. In many hypotrichs, there are only 2 rows of marginal cirri, but there are species with many. The shape and extent of the marginal rows can be a useful diagnostic character (for instance, in Holosticha, the left marginal row turns toward the right at the anterior end, and in certain oxytrichids the left and right rows meet at the posterior). For the purposes of identifying hypotrichs, frontal, transverse and ventral cirri are also important. Here, you've done a nice job of showing the anterior part of a double file of ventral cirri (a so-called "midventral complex", visible after 0:41). That feature, in combination with the tail-like process at the posterior of the cell, makes it quite likely that this is a species of Uroleptus.