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Frontonia (front-own-ee-a) is a peniculine ciliate and as such is closely related to the familiar Paramecium. The mouth is supported by strong rods which assists Frontonia in ingesting its preferred food - diatoms and other moderate sized algae. The mouth is located at about 10 o clock. Like many peniculines the cell has many extrusomes lying just under the cell surface, and these are expelled when the cells are challenged. Differential interference contrast.
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Frontonia (front-own-ee-a) is a peniculine ciliate and closely related to the familiar Paramecium. This image emphasises the cilia associated with the mouth. Like many peniculines the cell has many extrusomes lying just under the cell surface, and these are expelled when the cells are challenged. This species has black pigment granules. Differential interference contrast.
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Frontonia (front-own-ee-a) is a peniculine ciliate and closely related to the familiar Paramecium. The mouth (upper left) is supported by strong rods which assists Frontonia in ingesting its preferred food - diatoms (as here) and other moderate sized algae. Like many peniculines the cell has many extrusomes lying just under the cell surface, and these are expelled when the cells are challenged. This species has black pigment granules. Differential interference contrast.
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Frontonia (front-own-ee-a) is a peniculine ciliate and closely related to the familiar Paramecium. The mouth (upper left) is supported by strong rods which assists Frontonia in ingesting its preferred food - diatoms and other moderate sized algae. Like many peniculines the cell has many extrusomes lying just under the cell surface, and these are expelled when the cells are challenged. This species has black pigment granules. Differential interference contrast.
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Frontonia (front-own-ee-a) is a peniculine ciliate and closely related to the familiar Paramecium. Two cells seen joined at the mouth like this are mating (undergoing conjugation, a process in which haploid nuclei are exchanged between the partners). Phase contrast.,
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Frontonia, a ciliate that is common in freshwater habitats, eats diatoms. Just below the surface of the cell are hundreds of rod-shaped extrusomes that can transform explosively into stiff filaments used for defense from other predators or to push the cell away from undesirable sites.
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Frontonia likes to eat diatoms. The cytoplasmic contents of the diatom will be digested and the undigested siliceous frustule will be ejected. Differential interference contrast optics.
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Detail of ventral surface, showing kineties (the dots are the tips of extrusomes)and the mouth. This cell has been eating diatoms. Differential interference contrast optics.
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This cell has been eating diatoms. Differential interference contrast optics.
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These are testate-eating ciliates. Be careful as they will destroy your testate amoebae cultures.
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An unfortunate Centropyxis aculeata eaten by a Frontonia.
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Frontonia (EHRENBERG,1838) is a peniculine ciliate and as such is closely related to the familiar Paramecium. It has many crystalline inclusions called trichocysts (a special form of extrusome). When stressed the crystalline structure of these changes, and they are expelled in large numbers and forceably from the cell. This action can force the cell away from the noxious stimulus. The expelled, the trichocysts look like little spears attached to the slide or to the substrate. DIC.
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Portrait of the hymenostome ciliate, Frontonia acuminata (coronal optical section). F. acuminata is dorsoventrally flattened. The cell outline is broadly ellipsoid, tapering very slightly posteriorly. F. acuminata has a small cluster of dark brown cytoplasmic granules anteriorly (the similarly shaped F. angusta lacks such granules and is less flattened). The oral aperture is roughly triangular with the base posterior and the anterior apex terminating at a thin preoral suture. There is an undulating membrane on the right and three adoral membranelles on the left. There is a narrow postoral suture to the right of which lie prominent vestibular ciliary rows and to the left of which lie postoral kineties. The round macronucleus is seen here anteriorly with the prominent micronucleus indenting the left margin. Numerous extrusomes form a peripheral fringe(extrusomes seen here posterior and left of oral aperture). The single contractile vacuole is subequatorial. Probably omnivorous. Collected from a slow-moving freshwater stream near Boise, Idaho in July 2003. DIC optics.
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Portrait of the hymenostome ciliate, Frontonia acuminata (ventral view). F. acuminata is dorsoventrally flattened. The cell outline is broadly ellipsoid, tapering very slightly posteriorly. F. acuminata has a small cluster of dark brown cytoplasmic granules anteriorly (the similarly shaped F. angusta lacks such granules and is less flattened). The oral aperture is roughly triangular with the base posterior and the anterior apex terminating at a thin preoral suture. There is an undulating membrane on the right and three adoral membranelles on the left. There is a narrow postoral suture to the right of which lie prominent vestibular ciliary rows and to the left of which lie postoral kineties. The round macronucleus is seen here anteriorly with the prominent micronucleus indenting the left margin. Numerous extrusomes form a peripheral fringe. The single contractile vacuole is subequatorial. Probably omnivorous. Collected from a slow-moving freshwater stream near Boise, Idaho in July 2003. DIC optics
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Detail of ejected extrusome of the hymenostome ciliate, Frontonia acuminata (EHRENBERG,1833) BUETSCHLI,1889. Numerous extrusomes form a peripheral fringe. The ejected extrusomes of this genus have a distinctive hook-shaped distal end. Collected from a slow-moving freshwater stream near Boise, Idaho in July 2003. DIC optics.
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Detail of oral aperture of the hymenostome ciliate, Frontonia acuminata. The oral aperture is roughly triangular with the base posterior and the anterior apex terminating at a thin preoral suture. There is an undulating membrane on the right and three adoral membranelles on the left. There is a narrow postoral suture to the right of which lie prominent vestibular ciliary rows and to the left of which lie postoral kineties. Collected from a slow-moving freshwater stream near Boise, Idaho in July 2003. DIC optics.
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Oral infraciliature of Frontonia acuminata (EHRENBERG, 1833) BUETSCHLI, 1889. There are three slightly curved parallel adoral membranelles on the left of the oral aperture (M1,M2 and M3). There is an inconspicuous undulating membrane on the right side of the oral aperture (UM). Stained by the silver carbonate technique (Foissner,W. Europ. J. Protistol.27:313-330;1991).Brightfield.
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Ventral infraciliature of Frontonia acuminata (EHRENBERG, 1833) BUETSCHLI, 1889. Stained by the silver carbonate technique (Foissner,W. Europ. J. Protistol.27:313-330;1991).Brightfield.
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Oral infraciliature of Frontonia acuminata (EHRENBERG, 1833) BUETSCHLI, 1889. There are three slightly curved parallel adoral membranelles on the left of the oral aperture (M1,M2 and M3). There is a paraoral membrane on the right side of the oral aperture (POM). The oral opening (OO) is situated between the POM and M3. There are 3 vestibular kineties (VK) to the right of the POM. A sinuous densely argyrophilic line follows the course of the postoral suture (POS).Stained by the silver carbonate technique (Foissner,W. Europ. J. Protistol.27:313-330;1991).Brightfield.
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Originally described by Ehrenberg under the name Ophryoglena acuminata,
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Originally described by Ehrenberg under the name Ophryoglena acuminata,
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Originally described by Ehrenberg under the name Ophryoglena acuminata,
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Portrait of the widely distributed hymenostome ciliate, Frontonia atra. This species has a distinctive dorsoventrally flattened teardrop shape. The anterior is broadly rounded, the posterior tapering to a blunt point. F. atra may be confused with Disematostoma buetschlii (the latter has a distinctive cross-striated pre and postoral ciliary suture and contains zoochlorellae and/or kleptoplasts). F. atra has a dense aggregate of dark brown cytoplasmic granules anteriorly (possibly endosymbiotic bacteria). The oral aperture is roughly triangular with the base posterior and the anterior apex terminating at a thin preoral suture. There is an undulating membrane on the right and three adoral membranelles on the left. There is a narrow postoral suture to the right of which lie prominent vestibular ciliary rows and to the left of which lie postoral kineties. The round macronucleus is seen here anterior and to the left of the oral aperture. Numerous extrusomes form a peripheral fringe. The single contractile vacuole (not seen here) is subequatorial on the right. Probably omnivorous. Often found feeding on diatoms and green algae. Collected from freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho in June 2003. DIC optics.