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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 4238

Sukumar Chakraborty and Kenneth M. Old; Ultrastructure and Description of a Fungus-Feeding Amoeba, Trichamoeba mycophaga n. sp. (Amoebidae, Amoebea), from Australia. J.Protozool. 33(4):564-569, 1986

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An amoeba isolated from a wheatfield and a forest soil in Australia has been identified as Trichoamoeba mycophaga n. sp. Trophozoites of this amoebae are palmate to elongate and measure 45-136 µm in length and 25-94 µm in width. Amoebae in continuous locomotion may be limax with a villous-bulb uroid. Both the lobose pseudopodia and the advancing margin of a limax trophozoite bear an ectoplasmic crescent. The plasma membrane is coated with an electron-dense amorphous layer ca. 100 nm thick. Endoplasma is granular with elongate to bipyramidal crystals and contains bacterial endosymbionts. Trophozoites have a single, spherical to oval nucleus, 4-10 µm in diameter, which contains a centrally located, spherical to oval nucleolus, 2.8-5.0 µm in diameter. The nucleoplasm contains aggregations of filaments distributed radially within the nuclear membrane. Cysts are 21-60 µm in diameter, with ecto- and endocyst walls separated by an amorphous layer.