portrait

Description:

Large hypermastigid (450-500 µm) symbiont in Mastotermes darwiniensis. Body broadly triangular in shape with an anterior dome-shaped rostrum completely flagellated. Cell body covered with longitudinal rows of flagella except the amoeboid posterior part which is separated by a girdle and used for wood ingestion. The nucleus is situated in the anterior region; the axostylar fibres surround the nucleus and some group backwards to form an axial axostylar trunk.