Frontonia atra (ciliate with nice shape and color)

Protos · Post by **Protos** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 2:04 am

I have some Frontonia atra (Ehrenberg, 1834) Bütschli, 1889 under the microscope
I love the shape and the color

Now some closer view at the mouth !
It has a specific shape allowing it to eat Diatomae and other protists on top of Bacteria

Bruce Taylor · Post by **Bruce Taylor** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 6:03 am

One of my favorite ciliates.

Your specimen is quite pale, compared to the ones I find here. What size is it?

I suspect there's a lot of cryptic diversity in this "species." Last month, I found a population with symbiotic green algae!

carlos.uruguay · Post by **carlos.uruguay** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 6:59 am

Excellent

Protos · Post by **Protos** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 7:09 am

Bruce Taylor wrote:One of my favorite ciliates. Your specimen is quite pale, compared to the ones I find here. What size is it?

I suspect there's a lot of cryptic diversity in this "species." Last month, I found a population with symbiotic green algae!

The ones I observe here are between 200 and 300 µm
I have observed that their color depends a lot on the environment: here I found them in a diatomae rich pond; when they ingest bacteria they are darker. I have read somewhere that their color depends on iron containing bacteria (not sure)

Bruce Taylor · Post by **Bruce Taylor** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 7:59 am

In his Simmelried book, and elsewhere, Foissner describes the dark bacterium as an endosymbiont. They are clearly not being digested (distributed intact, throughout cytoplasm), and I will take Foissner's word for it that they are not pigment granules.

In the second half of this video, following the explosion, you can see some of them floating around, among the loose trichocysts and symbiotic chlorellae that spill from the cell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lV6PCtoCRM

(I put "Frontonia atra" in quotation marks there, because this is clearly a distinct variety).

Protos · Post by **Protos** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:25 am

Bruce Taylor wrote:In his Simmelried book, and elsewhere, Foissner describes the dark bacterium as an endosymbiont. They are clearly not being digested (distributed intact, throughout cytoplasm), and I will take Foissner's word for it that they are not pigment granules.

In the second half of this video, following the explosion, you can see some of them floating around, among the loose trichocysts and symbiotic chlorellae that spill from the cell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lV6PCtoCRM

(I put "Frontonia atra" in quotation marks there, because this is clearly a distinct variety).

Interesting video Bruce ! Indeed one can see bacteria and algae as symbionts

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 4:00 am

Nice details of the mouth.

Rogelio

_Michal_ · Post by **_Michal_** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 5:26 am

Very nice set.

vasselle · Post by **vasselle** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:37 am

Bonjour
Très belles photos
Cordialement seb

vasselle · Post by **vasselle** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:37 am

Bonjour
Très belles photos
Cordialement seb

piermicro · Post by **piermicro** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 12:22 pm

Very nice.