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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 7695

Wilhelm Foissner and Pierre Didier; [Nahrungsaufnahme, Lebenszyklus und Morphogenese von Pseudoplatyophrya nana (Kahl, 1926) (Ciliophora, Colpodida)]. Protistologica XIX(1):103-109, 1983

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The feeding process, the life cycle, and the morphogenesis of the enigmatic ciliate Pseudoplatyophrya nana are described. Food uptake occurs by the oraltrapeze, a very small, tubular structure which breaks open the cell wall of the prey (yeast cells) and sucks out its content. The life cycle and the morphogenesis are colpodid. A trophont evolves from the theront by copious feeding. It forms a temporary cyst which produces - depending on the culture conditions - either a division or a resting cyst or a theront. The oral infraciliature consists of a very small "adoral membrane" at the left and a "paroral membrane" at the right side of the oraltrapeze. The primordium for the adoral membranelle is formed by the proliferation of basal bodies of 2 somatic kineties. Supernumerary basal bodies are resorbed at the end of the stomatogenesis. The primordium for the paroral membrane evolves from a single somatic kinety which fuses with the paroral membrane at the early stages of the stomatogenesis. We conclude from these observations and the characteristic silverline system that Pseudoplatyophrya nana is a colpodide ciliate. The adoral membranelle is homologous of the left, the paroral membrane is homologous to the right ciliary fields of the Colpodidae s. stricto. The oraltrapeze is a new organelle and an adaptation to the special manner of nutrition.