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Heteramoeba (het-err-a-me-ba) a naked heterolobose amoeba, distinguished from other types of naked amoebae with lobose pseudopodia largely by ultrastructural features, but trophic heterolobose amoebae tend to form their pseudopodially suddenly rather than progressively. Phase contrast.
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Stephanopogon apogon (steff-anne-owe-poe-gone) is a marine genus of uncertain affinities and include a small handful of species. Cells are dorso-ventrally flattened, with a wide anterior mouth which may or may not have some barbs. It moves by using flagella which are laid out in longitudinal rows. For a long time erroneously considered to be a primitive ciliate (distinguished from real ciliates because it does not have macronuclei and micronuclei). This encysting cell can be seen to have several conventional nuclei with central nuceoli. Eats diatoms and detritus. Phase contrast.
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Portrait ((dorsal surface) of the colorless benthic marine protist, Stephanopogon apogon (Borror, 1965). The taxonomic position of Stephanopogon is uncertain. Once thought to be a ciliate, electron microscopic studies of S. apogon revealed absence of ciliate characteristics such as pellicular alveoli, infraciliature (e.g. kinetodesmal fibrils, postciliary microtubules and transverse microtubules) and nuclear dualism. S. apogon is elongate and moderately dorsoventrally flattened. The cell is curved slightly to the right. The posterior is round and the anterior end obliquely truncate. There are approximately 6-8 longitudinal files of smooth flagellae limited to the ventral surface. The anterior apical cytostome is slit-like and bordered by a slightly raised lip (visible here). There are 2-16 homokaryotic nuclei (not seen here).A contractile vacuole is absent. Division occurs while encysted (palintomy). Collected from a commercial saltwater aquarium in Boise, Idaho September 2004. DIC.
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Heteramoeba (het-err-a-me-ba) a naked heterolobose amoeba, distinguished from other types of naked amoebae with lobose pseudopodia largely by ultrastructural features, but trophic heterolobose amoebae tend to form their pseudopodially suddenly rather than progressively. This is a cyst. Phase contrast.
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Stephanopogon apogon (steff-anne-owe-poe-gone) is a marine genus of uncertain affinities and include a small handful of species. Cells are dorso-ventrally flattened, with a wide anterior mouth which may or may not have some barbs. It moves by using flagella which are laid out in longitudinal rows. For a long time erroneously considered to be a primitive ciliate (distinguished from real ciliates because it does not have macronuclei and micronuclei). Eats diatoms and detritus. Phase contrast.
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Portrait (ventral surface) of the colorless benthic marine protist, Stephanopogon apogon (Borror, 1965). The phylogenetic affinities of Stephanopogon are uncertain. Once thought to be a ciliate, electron microscopic studies of S. apogon revealed absence of ciliate characteristics such as pellicular alveoli, infraciliature (e.g. kinetodesmal fibrils, postciliary microtubules and transverse microtubules) and nuclear dualism. S. apogon is elongate and moderately dorsoventrally flattened. The cell is curved slightly to the right. The posterior is round and the anterior end obliquely truncate. There are approximately 6-8 longitudinal rows of smooth flagella limited to the ventral surface. The anterior apical cytostome is slit-like and bordered by a slightly raised lip. There are 2-16 homokaryotic nuclei (not seen here). Division occurs while encysted (palintomy). Collected from a commercial saltwater aquarium in Boise, Idaho September 2004. DIC.
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Stephanopogon apogon (steff-anne-owe-poe-gone) is a marine genus of uncertain affinities and include a small handful of species. Cells are dorso-ventrally flattened, with a wide anterior mouth which may or may not have some barbs. It moves by using flagella which are laid out in longitudinal rows. For a long time erroneously considered to be a primitive ciliate (distinguished from real ciliates because it does not have macronuclei and micronuclei). Eats diatoms and detritus. Phase contrast.
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SCanning EM showing the dorsal face of the cell with ciliary lines and the anterior mouth bordered with lips.
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Heteramoeba clara Droop, 1962. The flagellate stage can form a more or less spherical cell up to 30 microns in diameter. There are two equal nearly equal flagella, 60 microns long, held, as far as one can see, tangentially when the organism is moving, they cause the cell to rotate about the axis of forward motion with a period varying from about a second in the larger, to a quarter of a second in the smaller individuals. There is deep cytostome, a furrow lying between the main body and a curved enfolding collar: In the globular mature cell the collar forms an incomplete circle around what appears to be the anterior pole, with the flagellar insertion at the outer edge of one end of it, but it is clear from smaller pyriform cells that the true orientation of collar and cytostome is lateral. The cytoplasm is clear in the absence of ingested food: there are no contractile vacuoles and no stigma or chloroplasts, but the large spherical, empty nucleus is conspicuous in the anterior part of the cell. It lies very close to the flagellar insertion and is surrounded mostly towards the rear, by a layer of small highly refractive inclusions. The cell membrane is firm, but can easily be deformed when food taken in, the cytostomal collar especially is so elastic as to enable the flagellate to surround and engulf prey twice its riormal size.
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Stephanopogon apogon (steff-anne-owe-poe-gone) is a marine genus of uncertain affinities and include a small handful of species. Cells are dorso-ventrally flattened, with a wide anterior mouth which may or may not have some barbs. It moves by using flagella which are laid out in longitudinal rows. This organism was for a long time through to be a ciliate - because it looks like a ciliate. But examination of the cellular organization revealed that it s internal architecture was very different to that of ciliates - and they don t have two kinds of nuclei - like ciliates. Like many ciliates, it has flagella in rows or kineties. The anterior margin is the mouth, and the eat bacteria. Differential interference contrast.
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Cell stained by protargol showing the kineties of cilia of one face of the cell and the anterior mouth.
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Scanning EM showing the ventral face of the cell with ciliary lines and the anterior mouth bordered with lips.
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Percolomonas (perk-o-low-moan-ass) is an excavate flagellate - in that it has a ventral groove or gutter that is used in feeding, and is usually classified with the heterolobosea. Two to four flagella insert at the head of the groove, one (the recurrent flagellum) is much longer than the others. Often found in slightly smelly (i.e. anoxic) habitats. Phase contrast.
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Stephanopogon (steff-ann-owe-poe-gone) apogon Borror, 1965. Cells are about 18 - 32 microns long with several lows of kineties and dorso-ventrally flattened. The cells have a mouth located at the anterior end of a flattened neck of the cell. The cells crawl or swim with flagella. Rarely observed.
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Adjacent thin sections thropugh a kinety on the ventral surface of this 'flagellate'. Ventral is to the top of the image.
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Percolomonas (perk-o-low-moan-ass) is an excavate flagellate - in that it has a ventral groove or gutter that is used in feeding, and is usually classified with the heterolobosea. Two to four flagella insert at the head of the groove, one (the recurrent flagellum) is much longer than the others. Often found in slightly smelly (i.e. anoxic) habitats. Phase contrast.
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Stephanopogon apogon Borror, 1965. Cells are about 18 - 32 microns long with several lows of kineties and dorso-ventrally flattened. The cells have a mouth located at the anterior end of a flattened neck of the cell. The cells crawl or swim with flagella. Rarely observed.
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ATCC culture 50096. Stephanopogon apogon (steff-anne-owe-poe-gone) is a marine genus that includes a small handful of species. This taxon has recently been placed in Heterolobosea.
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Percolomonas (perk-o-low-moan-ass) is an excavate flagellate - in that it has a ventral groove or gutter that is used in feeding, and is usually classified with the heterolobosea. Two to four flagella insert at the head of the groove, one (the recurrent flagellum) is much longer than the others. Often found in slightly smelly (i.e. anoxic) habitats. Differential interference contrast.
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This drawing presents the authors understanding of the ultrastructural organization of the mouth region of Stephanopogon apogon. The opening of the mouth is to the left, and is surrounded by lips. These are strengthened inside by a quoit of fibrous material. Rods of microtubules support the region leading into the body, and there are many small gland-like folds of the membrane leading into this region. The body is supported by flat ribbons of microtubules. There are flagella on the lower surface of the cell and these are held in place by crown-like arrays of microtubules, and are interconnected by flat plates of material.
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Stephanopogon apogon (steff-anne-owe-poe-gone) is a marine genus that was recently placed in the Heterolobosea. ATCC culture 50096.