portrait

Description :

Spironympha are spirotrichonymphids with a spindle-shaped body and spiralled flagellar rows that do not reach the posterior end. Nucleus penetrating into the columella or distant from the anterior rostrum. Axostyle arising around or above the nucleus, composed of several sub-axostyles forming a single axostylar trunk or several separated fibres. Spironympha kofoidi from Reticulitermes flavipes or its junior synonym R. santonensis. It is a large spindle-shaped cell of 45-73 µm in length, the flagellar lines occupy the anterior half of the body. The nucleus is situated at the base of the rostrum far from the top of the cell and sometimes at the middle of the cell. There are two, three, four or five flagellar rows that are coiled together in the rostral zone and that spread at the nucleus and terminate near the middle of the cell. The axostyle arises at the base of the nucleus and forms a thick axostylar trunk protruding at the posterior end. Differential interference contrast.