Amoeba - Volume 6 – Amphitrema with beaded filipodia

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Walter Piorkowski
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 6:42 pm
Location: South Beloit, Ill

Amoeba - Volume 6 – Amphitrema with beaded filipodia

Post by Walter Piorkowski »

After obtaining these images the work to determine what I had found began. It was obviously a testate amoeba with a test transparent enough to see through. The extremely long fine filopodia with a series of beads were like nothing I have seen before. Were these beads of axopodial cytoplasm like those seen in a heliozoan’s spines?
In my review of testate amoeba, I found a reference to “cells with apertures at two poles from which filose pseudopodia emerge”. Tests 40 - 80 micrometers in length. Five known species. The reference called out Amphitrema. When the image is closely reviewed, there is an aperture on both ends although only one filopodia is seen emerging from the top side. This is likely a result of continuous harassment of that aperture by filamentous bacteria and a protozoan. The test is 40 micrometers from top to bottom.
I may never know what the full story is on the “beads” of the filopodia. My best guess is that they are bacteria captured and held for consumption. A six-minute-long video played back at 5 times life speed clearly shows beads being drawn into the lower aperture. This is an extraordinary creature taken from local pond water.
Walter
Nikon MS-D microscope with Nikon 40x 0.65 na DLL phase achromat.
Nikon Long Distance Phase Contrast Condenser.
Nikon D800 DSLR on PFM photo unit with Olympus PE 2.5x projection eyepiece.
Vivitar 225 auto flash on manual.
Attachments
7954MSDclw.jpg
7953MSDclw.jpg
7950MSDclw.jpg

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