Infraciliature

Description :

Infraciliature (right side) of the small colpodid ciliate, Kreyella minuta (Foissner,1979). The body outline is obovoid to reniform. The right side is flattened and the left distinctly convex. Somatic ciliature is markedly reduced on the left side to two rows of anterior dikinetids (two of the dikinetids are visible anteriorly here). There are two concentric semicircular kineties on the right surface. Cilia are relatively long (about 6 microns). The ventrolateral oral aperture in the posterior 1/3 is relatively large. There is no cytopharyngeal basket of fibers or trichites. A prominent curved paraoral membrane is located on the dorsal margin of the vestibulum. The adoral zone of membranelles is visible here as a series of short parallel lines opposite the paraoral membrane. The dark dots posterior to the oral aperture represent the short postoral kineties. There is a single spherical macronucleus and one micronucleus. The contractile vacuole is located in the posterior ½ (not seen here). This species may be synonymous with Kreyella musicale (Kahl, 1931). Collected from freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho in July 2004. Silver carbonate stain (see Foissner, W.Europ. J. Protistol.27, 313-330;1991). Brightfield.