AN UNUSUAL (?) PROTOZOA
Comments received on the query in last month's issue
by Bill Ells, UK
Editor's note: In the January 1999 issue of Micscape, Bill Ells asked for help to identify an unusual protozoan he had found. Bill had a good response to his query and writes:
I have had some
interesting e-mail on the unusual protozoa that appeared in
'Micscape'. (Bill's drawing shown left). All agree
that it is a species of Ophrydium, a suggestion for the
species is O. versatile. The genus is not in 'How to
know the Protozoa' by Jahn, Bovee & Jahn. It is in the only
other book I have on the subject 'Protozoa' by Albert Westphal.
The figure here is very small I would not have been able to
identify the genus.
Ophrydium are normally colonial in a gelatinous matrix (shown below), mine I am told are in the telotroch (mobile or colonising stage) when individuals break away from the colony to set up new living quarters. I am also told that in 'Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States' by R.W. Pennak "on page 84 in the section on Protozoa there is a drawing of a single Ophrydium that looks almost exactly as you drew it ." Two people recommended 'Free Living Freshwater Protozoa' by Prof.D.J.Patterson.
I am most grateful for the response I have had from around the
world to this and other articles, it makes my little efforts
worthwhile. Thanks, Bill Ells.
Comments to the author Bill Ells are welcomed.
Published in February 1999 Micscape Magazine.
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