Portrait

Description:

Portrait of Loxophyllum helus (Stokes, 1884, Penard, 1922) a rhabdophorine ciliate. The body is elongate and laterally compressed. The left side is sparsely ciliated and slightly domed the flat right side is more densely ciliated. Very flexible. Prominent trichocyst warts occur at intervals along the dorsal edge (seen well here). A narrow flattened band traversed by trichocysts runs along the entire ventral edge. The slit-like oral aperture is located on the anterior ventral edge. There is one posterior contractile vacuole. The macronucleus is bipartite flanking a small micronucleus. Preys on rotifers and other ciliates. Collected from freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho in June 2003. DIC optics.