Drawing

Description:

Bicosoeca pulchra Hilliard, 1971. Bicosoeca cells with a lorica that is 19.3-20.2 microns long, 9.7-10.6 microns wide. The lorica is delicately urn-shaped, posteriorly pointed, with a short strip appended to the base. There is a slight constriction just below a moderately flaring opening, while the lip at the oral rim may converge slightly. The lorica wall is thin, hyaline, and appears serrate in optical profile when observed in aqueous methylene blue. Staining reveals the presence of transverse bands, which number 10-12 in 10 microns The spherical protoplast (6.5-7 microns long, 4.5-6 microns wide) is colourless, granular, and has a central nucleus and a vacuole. A single flagellum bearing two rows of submicroscopic hairs extends dorsally from the cell and is about three times its length.