Ref ID : 7731
Maria Mulisch and Klaus Hausmann; Structure and Ultrastructure of the Oral Apparatus of Eufolliculina uhligi Mulish and Patterson, 1983. Protistologica XX(3):415-429, 1984
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The two peristomial wings of E. uhligi are surrounded by the adoral zone of membranelles (AZM) which, at its end, turns down into the buccal cavity. The adoral membranelles (AM) are organized as paramembranelles (according to the definition of De Puytorac & Grain, 1976). At the peristome, each AM is composed of the three ciliary rows of unequal length. The kinetosomes of row 1 and 2 give rise to nemadesmata which, after a torsion, terminate near the kinetosomes of the paroral kinety (PK). In the buccal cavity, the AZM broadens, and each AM consists of three ciliary rows of approximately the same length. In the cytopharyngeal region, the AM reduces its size. In this area the postciliary microtubules of the membranellar kinetosomes are extremely elongated. These cytopharyngeal microtubules - probably forced by the contraction of a myonemal cord - might play a part in the pinching off of the food vacuole. The PK runs parallel to the AZM at the peristomial field and ends before the AZM enters the buccal cavity. It is organized as a stichodyad. The ciliated basal bodies of the PK are linked with the nemadesmata of the AZM by bundles of microtubules. Compared to other heterotrich ciliates, the oral infraciliature of E. uhligi mostly resembles that of Stentor. This may suggest a close relationship between these two organisms.