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Heteromita (het-err-o-might-a), one of the smaller gliding flagellates, mostly from soils and freshwater habitats. Flattened, two unthickened flagella inserting into a subapical depression in the cell. Anterior flagellum beats with a flopping motion, posterior flagellum drags behind. A cercomonad. There can be considerable variation among cells in a population. Phase contrast.
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Cercomonas (sir-ko-moan-ass), gliding flagellates, two flagella insert just below the anterior apex of the cell. The anterior flagellum beats floppily, the posterior flagellum trails against the substrate. Body very flexible and elements may be drawn out as strands behind the moving cells. Common. Lots of species, but the taxonomy is very unstable. Phase contrast.
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Heteromita (het-err-o-might-a), one of the smaller gliding flagellates, mostly from soils and freshwater habitats. Flattened, two unthickened flagella inserting into a subapical depression in the cell. Anterior flagellum beats with a flopping motion, posterior flagellum drags behind. A cercomonad. There can be considerable variation among cells in a population. Phase contrast.
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Cercomonas (sir-ko-moan-ass), gliding flagellates, two flagella insert just below the anterior apex of the cell. The anterior flagellum beats floppily, the posterior flagellum trails against the substrate. Body very flexible and elements may be drawn out as strands behind the moving cells. Common. Lots of species, but the taxonomy is very unstable. This is a compressed cell surrounded by some bacteria. The light circle with the dark centre is the nucleus with central nucleolus, and the very light region is the contractile vacuole. Phase contrast.
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Heteromita (het-err-o-might-a), one of the smaller gliding flagellates, mostly from soils and freshwater habitats. Flattened, two unthickened flagella inserting into a subapical depression in the cell. Anterior flagellum beats with a flopping motion, posterior flagellum drags behind. A cercomonad. There can be considerable variation among cells in a population. Phase contrast.
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Cercomonas (sir-ko-moan-ass), gliding flagellates, two flagella insert just below the anterior apex of the cell. The anterior flagellum beats floppily, the posterior flagellum trails against the substrate. Body very flexible and elements may be drawn out as strands behind the moving cells. Common. Phase contrast.
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Phase contrast image showing two flagella of similar lengths inserting near the anterior pole of rhc ell. The light area posterior to the point of flagellar insertion is the nucleus. This flagellate eats bacteria - such as those around it.
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Cercomonas (sir-ko-moan-ass), gliding flagellates, two flagella insert just below the anterior apex of the cell. The anterior flagellum beats floppily, the posterior flagellum trails against the substrate. Body very flexible and elements may be drawn out as strands behind the moving cells. Common. Lots of species, but the taxonomy is very unstable. The very light region is the contractile vacuole. Phase contrast.
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Cercomonas (sir-ko-moan-ass), gliding flagellates, two flagella insert just below the anterior apex of the cell. The anterior flagellum beats from side to side, the posterior flagellum trails against the substrate. Body very flexible and elements may be drawn out as strands behind the moving cells. Common. Phase contrast.
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Cercomonas, gliding flagellate, with very flexible body, one flagellum projecting anteriorly and moving with a stiff beat, the other flagellum trailing behind. Phase contrast.
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Cercomonas, a common type of gliding flagellate, the body is almost amoeboid, one flagellum extends anteriorly and beats stiffly, the other trails behind the cell while it is moving. Although common, these organisms are very hard to identify. From a freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho. Brightfield.
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Small cercomonad, the bullseye is the nucleus, one sweeping flagellum is directed anteriorly (to the right) and one flagellum trails below and behind the cell.
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Cercomonas: A flagellate with highly flexible body and two anterior flagella. The body may be extended as podia. Movement by gliding. This image was taken by Krishnakumar B. in a sample from an anaerobic bioreactor for organic rich wastewater treatment in Regional Research Laboratory-Trivandrum (CSIR-India).
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Cercomonas crassicauda Dujardin, 1841. Cercomonad cells which are elongate-ovate, from two to two and a half times as long as broad, its substance granulate, caudal filament usually very thick at its base, tapering to a fine point at its distal end, about equal in length to the body, anterior flagellum finer and longer than the caudal filament, two or three contractile vacuoles, located near the anterior extremity, nucleus subcentral. Length of body 27 microns
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Cercomonas longicauda Dujardin, 1841. Cercomonad cells which are about 10 microns long, spindle shaped and flexible. Two flagella insert subapically into a small subapical depression. The anterior flagellum is non-acronematic and about 2.5 times the cell length, and its most basal part adheres to the anterior part of the body. The acronematic posterior flagellum is about 3 times the cell length, adheres to the length of the cell and has a slow sinusoidal beat during swimming. The cell moves by gliding or swimming. Strands of cytoplasm are drawn out behind the cell during movement.
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Heteromita globosa Stein, 1878. Cells are 4 to 6 microns long, ovoid to roundish, and slightly flattened. Two flagella insert subapically in a slight depression. The anterior flagellum, slightly thinner than the posterior one, may be very short or about the same length as the body and may be directed anteriorly or posteriorly. The posterior flagellum is one to two and half times the length of the body. The nucleus is located anteriorly, the contractile vacuole posteriorly. Refractile granules and food vacuoles are often visible. Cells glide on the posterior flagellum, wobbling and frequently changing direction. The anterior flagellum beats stiffly if anteriorly directed. To engulf bacteria, cells stop moving and use ventral pseudopodia.
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Heteromita is commonly encountered in freshwater and soil environments. This video has two sequences - the first is of CCAP strain 1961/1, and created in 1961. The second shows cells from a field sample taken in Berlin a couple of years later.