Haptorida

Portrait (right side) of the haptorid ciliate, Perispira ovum (Stein, 1859). The cell body is cylindrical to ovoid. The anterior end is slightly truncate. A narrow unciliated cortical ridge makes a complete right-hand spiral the length of the body. The slit-like cytostome, supported by fine trichites (seen well in this image), is located at the anterior end of the cortical ridge. The uniform longitudinal somatic kineties spiral slightly. Densely packed food vacuoles and highly refractile cytoplasmic crystals often obscure the ellipsoid macronucleus. There is a single large terminal contractile vacuole posteriorly. Swims slowly. Collected from anoxic bottom sediments of slow flowing freshwater stream near Boise, Idaho March 2004. DIC optics. 

Portrait (lateral view) of the haptorid ciliate, Perispira ovum (Stein, 1859). The cell body is cylindrical to ovoid. The anterior end is slightly truncate. An unciliated cortical ridge makes a complete right-hand spiral the length of the body. The slit-like cytostome, supported by fine trichites, is located at the anterior end of the cortical ridge. The uniform longitudinal somatic kineties spiral slightly. Densely packed food vacuoles and highly refractile cytoplasmic crystals often obscure the ellipsoid macronucleus. There is a single large terminal contractile vacuole posteriorly. Swims slowly. Collected from anoxic bottom sediments of slow flowing freshwater stream near Boise, Idaho December 2004. Brightfield optics, closed condenser. 

Portrait (left side) of the haptorid ciliate, Perispira ovum (Stein, 1859). The cell body is cylindrical to ovoid. The anterior end is slightly truncate. An unciliated cortical ridge makes a complete right-hand spiral the length of the body. The slit-like cytostome, supported by fine trichites, is located at the anterior end of the cortical ridge. The uniform longitudinal somatic kineties spiral slightly. Densely packed food vacuoles and highly refractile cytoplasmic crystals often obscure the ellipsoid macronucleus. There is a single large terminal contractile vacuole posteriorly. Swims slowly. Collected from anoxic bottom sediments of slow flowing freshwater stream near Boise, Idaho December 2004. DIC optics 

Infraciliature (posterior apical view) of the haptorid ciliate, Perispira ovum (Stein, 1859). The cell body in vivo is cylindrical to ovoid. The longitudinal somatic kineties spiral slightly. An unciliated cortical ridge, bordered on either side by by a file of closely spaced kinetids, makes a complete right-hand spiral the length of the body. The posterior portion of this structure is seen here to the viewer's left. The three files of clavate cilia (dorsal brush) are seen at the viewr's upper right. The right-most kinety of the dorsal brush has longer cilia than the two kineties to it's left. Collected from anoxic bottom sediments of slow flowing freshwater stream near Boise, Idaho December 2004. Stained by the silver carbonate technic (see Foissner, W. Europ. J. Protistol., 27:313-330;1991).Brightfield.

Infraciliature (ventrolateral view) of the haptorid ciliate, Perispira ovum (Stein, 1859). The cell body in vivo is cylindrical to ovoid. The longitudinal somatic kineties spiral slightly. An unciliated cortical ridge, bordered on either side by by a file of closely spaced kinetids, makes a complete right-hand spiral the length of the body. The anterior portion of this structure is seen here. The cytostome is located at the anterior end of the spiral ridge. The cytostome is supported by trichites (not seen here).Collected from anoxic bottom sediments of slow flowing freshwater stream near Boise, Idaho December 2004. Stained by the silver carbonate technic (see Foissner, W. Europ. J. Protistol., 27:313-330;1991).Brightfield.

Portrait of the haptorid ciliate, Perispira ovum (Stein, 1859). The cell body is cylindrical to ovoid. The anterior end is slightly truncate. An unciliated cortical ridge (not well seen here) makes a complete right-hand spiral the length of the body. The slit-like cytostome, supported by fine trichites, is located at the anterior end of the cortical ridge. The uniform longitudinal somatic kineties spiral slightly. There are thre files of clavate (club-shaped) cilia forming a dorsal brush. The right-most of these (visible here to the viewer's upper right) hhas longer cilia than the two kineties to it's right. The cytoplasm in this individual is densely packed chloroplasts from ingested euglenae. These are probably "kleptoplasts". Kleptoplasts are plastids from ingested prey that are maintained in the cytoplasm and not digested. Perispira ovum may also sequester mitochondria from its prey in similar fashion (Johnson, PW et al. J. Euk. Microbiol.42:323-335,1995). There is a single large terminal contractile vacuole posteriorly. Collected from anoxic bottom sediments of slow flowing freshwater stream near Boise, Idaho march 2004. DIC.

Collected from a non-flooded Petri dish culture of topsoil from a public park in Boise, Idaho. November 2006.DIC.

Portrait of Arcuospathidium (FOISSNER,1984). Collected from a non-flooded Petri dish culture of topsoil from a public park in Boise, Idaho. November 2006.DIC.

Ventral view of the oral bulge of Arcuospathidium sp. (FOISSNER,1984). Collected from a non-flooded Petri dish culture of topsoil from a public park in Boise, Idaho. November 2006.DIC.

Lateral view of the anterior end of of Arcuospathidium sp. (FOISSNER,1984). Collected from a non-flooded Petri dish culture of topsoil from a public park in Boise, Idaho. November 2006.DIC.

Optical section of the anterior end of of Arcuospathidium sp. (FOISSNER,1984) showing the longer dorsal brush row of cilia and abundant ellipsoid subpellicular mitochondria. Collected from a non-flooded Petri dish culture of topsoil from a public park in Boise, Idaho. November 2006.DIC.

Collected from a non-flooded Petri dish culture of topsoil from a public park in Boise, Idaho. November 2006.DIC.

Spathidium (spa-thid-ee-um), a predatory ciliate. the mouth is the slightly expanded region at the front (top) of the cell and this is underlain with extrusomes which assist in the capture of food. The structure at the back end is the contractile vacuole. These guys usually eat other ciliates. Differential interference contrast. Material from Nymph Creek and Nymph Lake, thermal sites within Yellowstone National Park, photograph by Kathy Sheehan and David Patterson.

Spathidium (spa-thid-ee-um) is a predatory ciliate. The front end looks as if it is flattened, this is the mouth. Immediately inside the mouth are short extrusomes which are used to kill and capture food. May form cysts. Differential interference contrast.

Differential interference contrast image, mouth to top.

A litostome ciliate isolated from sandy sediments from Little Sippiwissett salt marsh. Micrograph taken by Jeffrey Cole.

Portrait of the haptorid ciliate, Chaenea teres (Dujardin,1841). Probably synonymous with C. stricta (Dujardin 1841, Foissner, 1995) which is also found in freshwater habitats. The cell is elongate,ovoid in cross section,flexible but only slightly contractile. There is a short anterior snout with an inconspicuous apical cytostome. Small trichites support the cytopharynx. Longitudinal somatic kineties are widely spaced. The short snout has densely packed slightly spiral kineties with longer cilia. There is a single posterior terminal contractile vacuole (not seen in this image). The macronucleus is in many small rounded parts throughout the cytoplasm. The cytoplasm of this individual contains multiple highly refractile crystalline inclusions.This specimen was collected from a commercial saltwater aquarium in Boise, Idaho May 2004. DIC optics.

Detail of the anterior end of the haptorid ciliate, Chaenea teres (Dujardin,1841). Probably synonymous with C. stricta (Dujardin 1841, Foissner, 1995) which is also found in freshwater habitats. The cell is elongate,ovoid in cross section,flexible but only slightly contractile. There is a short anterior snout with an inconspicuous apical cytostome. Small trichites support the cytopharynx. Longitudinal somatic kineties are widely spaced. The short snout has densely packed slightly spiral kineties with longer cilia (seen well here). The cytoplasm of this individual contains highly refractile crystalline inclusions.This specimen was collected from a commercial saltwater aquarium in Boise, Idaho May 2004. DIC optics.

Portrait of the haptorid ciliate, Chaenea teres (Dujardin,1841). Probably synonymous with C. stricta (Dujardin 1841, Foissner, 1995) which is also found in freshwater habitats. The cell is elongate,ovoid in cross section,flexible but only slightly contractile. There is a short anterior snout with an inconspicuous apical cytostome. Small trichites support the cytopharynx. Longitudinal somatic kineties are widely spaced. The short snout has densely packed slightly spiral kineties with longer cilia. The cytoplasm of this individual contains highly refractile crystalline inclusions.This specimen was collected from a commercial saltwater aquarium in Boise, Idaho May 2004. DIC optics.

Portrait of the haptorid ciliate, Chaenea teres (Dujardin,1841). Probably synonymous with C. stricta (Dujardin 1841, Foissner, 1995) which is also found in freshwater habitats. The cell is elongate,ovoid in cross section,flexible but only slightly contractile. There is a short anterior snout with an inconspicuous apical cytostome. Small trichites support the cytopharynx. Longitudinal somatic kineties are widely spaced. The short snout has densely packed slightly spiral kineties with longer cilia (seen well here). The cytoplasm of this individual contains highly refractile crystalline inclusions.This specimen was collected from a commercial saltwater aquarium in Boise, Idaho May 2004. DIC optics.