portrait

Description:

Portrait of the peritrich ciliate, Pseudovorticella chlamydophora (Penard,1922) Jankowski, 1976. This genus is distinguished from the genus Vorticella by its grid-like silver line system. The transverse components of the silverline system of Vorticella species have no vertical connections. P. Chlamydophora has a thick clear pellicular layer composed of cuboid units, which give the cell surface a distinctive quilted appearance. The extended cell is an inverted bell shape connected at the aboral scopula to a contractile stalk. The cell is spherical when contracted. The stalk contracts as a coil rather than a zigzag (e.g. Haplocaulus). The peristomal disc is almost flush. The ciliature is reduced to two rows of peristomal cilia, which beat counterclockwise toward the funnel-shaped buccal cavity (seen here to the viewer’s left anteriorly). The roughly C-shaped macronucleus is oriented in the long axis (to the viewer’s left of midline here). A single contractile vacuole is seen adjacent to the buccal cavity. The otherwise identical P. vestita has two contractile vacuoles. Multiple yellowish food vacuoles are seen here. P. chlamydophora may be gregarious but does not form true colonies. Collected from a freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho May 2004. DIC optics.