image_list image_listE

Heliozoea: Dimorphida

Dimorpha mutans
Gruber, 1881

Dimorpha Genus: Ovoid or subspherical; with two flagella and radiating axopodia, all arising from an eccentric centriole; nucleus eccentric; pseudopods sometimes withdrawn; fresh water (Kudo, 1966).
Species: Spherical cell body (heliozoan type) 15-22 μm in diam. (Page & Siemensma, 1991).
Similar genus -->> Ciliophrys;


Dimorpha mutans, cell body at heliozoan stage (spherical) 12.5-16 μm in diam., cell body at flagellate stage (ellipsoidal) 22-24 μm long, 8-9 μm wide, a contractile vacuole anterior, x 640, Kurihashi, Saitama Pref., Japan, July 2001 by Y. Tsukii
Heliozoa stage
scale 31 μm scale 63 μm scale 94 μm; x 640
Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans
Flagellate stage
scale 31 μm scale 63 μm scale 94 μm; x 640
Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans Dimorpha mutans

D. mutans Gruber: 15-20 μm diam.; flagella about 20-30 μm long (Kudo, 1966).
D. floridanis Bovee: Flagellate phase 18-20 μm long, 6-7 μm wide; two flagella 10-12 μm long, one directed anteriorly and the other bent laterally; heliozoan form 8-10 μm diam.; fresh water (Kudo, 1966).


Please click on images for viewing enlarged.
Copyright Protist Information Server