Ref ID : 4839
Eberhard Schnepf; Light and Electron Microscopical Observations in Rhynchopus coscinodiscivorus spec. nov., a Colorless, Phagotrophic Euglenozoon with Concealed Flagella. Arch.Protistenk 144:63-74, 1994
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Rhynchopus coscinodiscivorus sp. nov. was found in the North Sea near List/Sylt, feeding on the diatom Coscinodiscus concinnus. It is pear-shaped but highly variable in form and has an apical papilla, a subapical flagellar pocket and a subapical cytostome. The two short flagella contain microtubules which are not regularly arranged in an axoneme. The flagella remain largely concealed inside in the flagellar pocket, the wall of which is supported by microtubules and a band of rods, the latter extending to form a ledge over the apical papilla and into the cytostome, causing its "plicate" appearance. The rods then accompany the anterior part of the cytopharynx which runs approximately parallel to the axis of the cell, nearly normal to the flagella, and is, in addition, associated with microtubules and microfilaments and a lacuna along its anterior part. The cell apex is reinforced by peripheral microtubules. It contains the nucleus, some dictyosomes and most mitochondria, while the food vacuoles and reserve granules occur mainly in the posterior part of the cell. The mitochondria have only very few invaginations of the inner envelope membrane. Trichocysts, muciferous bodies, paramylum grains and a euglenoid pellicle with pellicular strips are absent. R. coscinodiscivouurs moves with euglenoid ("metabolic") contortions, with rapid, jerking contractions of the cell apex and with gliding motions. The movements is inhibited by cytochalasin D.