portrait

Description:

Portrait of Pompholyxophrys, one of the heliozoon-like amoebae previously assigned to the order Rotosphaerida. Pompholyxophrys has a periplast composed of endogenously formed siliceous elements of a single type within a species. These are spherical in the type species P. punicea but may be ovoid (see images of P. ovuligera), discoid or bone-shaped. Radiating spicules are absent. What appear at first glance to be axopodia are, in fact, filopods that lack axonemes and extrusomes. Contracted filopodia may appear granular leading to confusion but close examination of the extended filopodia shows extrusomes are absent. This image shows the eccentric nucleus at approximately 12 o clock in the upper half of the cell. From standing freshwater Typha latifolia marsh near Boise, Idaho. Differential interference contrast.