Description of Cyclodonta bipartita
provided by BioPedia
Cells colourless and elliptical in shape (about 10 microns x 5 microns) with a long (about 10 microns) hairless flagellum, ensheathed in mucilage. The cell body is covered by numerous scales of two types, spine scales and spine less scales. The spine scales (2.5-3.0 microns long) have a rounded triangular basal plate (about 0.5 microns in diameter) from which arise three struts that fuse together at a point about 200 nm distal to the basal plate and just proximal to a collar (about 100 nm in width) which surrounds the spine. Half to three quarters of the way along its length the spine splits into two divergent branches (subtending at an angle of about 45 degrees) which remain connected, proximally, by a thin webbing. Spineless scales are composed of two elliptical plates (each 1.7-2.0 microns long and 0.9-1.1 microns wide); the distal plate is depressed in its central area and fuses with the proximal plate to form two semi-elliptical areas separated by a thick bar. Numerous perforations are present around the perimeter of the semi-elliptical areas.
