portrait

Description:

Originally described by Schewiakoff under the name Nassula elegans. Detail of cytopharyngeal ""eel basket,"" from the side.  Although the species Nassula elegans Ehrenberg has been transferred to the genus Nassulopsis Faure-Fremiet, 1959 (Foissner, 1994), the organism described and illustrated by Schewiakoff under the original name does not meet certain morphological criteria for the new taxonomic placement (multiple contractile vacuoles, hypostomial frange that spans the ventral face). Schewiakoff is very firm on the presence of only one contractile vacuole in all his specimens, and his illustration of the frange is unambiguous. It seems likely, then, that his Nassula elegans was, in fact, a malnourished variety of Nassula ornata, as described by Edna McNally (Biol. Bull. October 1, 1926 vol. 51 no. 4 237-244 ).  h -- Ectoplasm of homogeneous appearance o -- Mouth kr -- Plasmatic collar of the rod system st -- Cytopharyngeal basket