Ref ID : 4752
Colin G. Ogden and Marie-Madeleine Couteaux; The Effect of Predation on the Morphology of Tracheleuglypha dentata (Protozoa: Rhizopoda). Arch.Protistenk 136:107-115, 1988
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The effect of predation by Thecamoeba sphaeronucleolus and Heleopera petricola on the morphology of Tracheleuglypha dentata is described. Both species appear to either degrade or damage the denticular organic rim which surrounds the aperture of T. dentata, making it a transient structure and of little taxonomic value. The species T. acolla, which was differentiated mainly using this feature, is now considered to be a synonym of T. dentata. Enzymatic and mechanical agitation are considered to play an important role in the decay of the binding cement and subsequent distintegration of the prey shell, although the shell plates appear unaltered.