Fits the description for Family: Difflugidae
left image: ventral on top
right image: dorsal on top
bottom: crop of dorsal surface showing some of the components of the test.
Note the many diatoms and tiny stones; amazing how a single cell can select objects and use them to build a house.
Oly 20x S Plan Apo, 2.5x NFK projection eyepiece; 4µ frames stacked with ZS PMax
(not sure what happened to the frame of the top left image)
NUM10076 NUM10077
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
These are nice, I especially like the crop showing the diatom and "rock" masonry.
amazing how a single cell can select objects and use them to build a house
Yes indeed. Every time I look at one of these it's always a source of wonder.
There's one I really like, the Lesquereusia. Unfortunately I haven't had a good shot at one since before the "stacking" software days (for me). Did one manually a few years back.
Beautiful images NU. I have not been able to make out the detail of any test yet, other than some hexagonal structure that looks like a fly eye. This is quite amazing and a neverending source of wonder that a single celled animal can do anything but lay there. No muscle, no nerves, no brain, no bones. so how does it move, and why can it look like it moves with a purpose?
Thanks Charles, Mitch and Ernst.
That closeup image would possibly have made a good "What is it Quiz?"
Ernst: from what I have read Difflugiidae and Centropyxidae are very similar (perhaps even the same).
I am using Taylor and Sanders, 2001. Protozoa. In Thorp & Covich (eds.) Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates 2nd. edn, Academic Press.
These authors do not mention the Family: Centropyxidae but show an image similar to my specimens as Diflugiidae.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
Hallo NU,
I referred to Lee et al., An illustrated Guide to the Protozoa (1985). There is a suborder Difflugina with Difflugiidae and Centropyxidae as separated families.May be taxonomical disputetions, but according to the general view of the test and the spines I would agree to this separation.
Ernst
Thanks Ernst. I looked at some discussion on the WWW and Centropyxidae seems a better choice than Diflugiidae for these specimens.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
