portrait

Description :

Aspidisca (as-pid-isk-a) is a hypotrich ciliate, and identifiable as a hypotrich because it uses clumps of cilia (cirri) on the ventral surface to walk over the substrate. Hypotrichs are part of the polyhymenophora, and usually feed using an extensive adoral zone of membranelles which extends from the front of the cell to a mouth in the posterior ventral part of the cell. However, in Aspidisca, the AZM has been greatly reduced and forms a kind of scrubbing brush on the ventral surface - and visible at 4 o clock on the right margin of the cell. Phase contrast