Amoeboid -- Pamphagus mutabilis?

[Bruce Taylor]

I'm sorry for the poor quality of the video: there was too much liquid on the slide, so the coverslip was moving around under my (low quality!) oil immersion objective. Still, maybe someone will confirm or correct the ID...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p4AkwggK-Q

I notice that the neck of the bottle has a sort of granular texture, somewhat reminiscent of the scaly tectum of Cochliopodium. Having been preoccupied (obsessed? ) with ciliates, I've done very little reading about amoeboids. What is the composition of this flexible test?

The test in this image is 55 µm long (but quite variable, of course).

100X no-name Chinese obj.

[Ferry]

This is a Cochliopodium species, but disturbed. If you wait a while, it will settle to the glass and start gliding. The video shows how it is searching for a substrate to attach to with its pseudopods.

[Bruce Taylor]

Thank you so much, Ferry...I'm glad I asked. I've edited the video info.

It makes sense. I've been seeing a lot of Cochliopodium, lately, but usually they look more like this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSScNr8FREk

[Ferry]

Yes, this video shows the normal gliding form, this is how it normally moves. All the dots are in fact surface scales with a very complex but beautiful ultrastructure. For your interest look here: http://www1.nencki.gov.pl/pdf/ap/ap757.pdf. Your species might be C. bilimbosum.

[Bruce Taylor]

Thanks again, Ferry...your expertise is appreciated!

I was familiar with Kudryatsev's articles on Cochliopodium, thanks to another "internet penpal," a young protistologist who blogs as PsiWavefunction. It was quite staggering to learn that these scales -- which look like simple dots in my little scope -- have structures as complex as this:



...or this: