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Spirotrichea: Heterotrichia: Heterotrichida

Blepharisma seculum
(Isquith, 1965) Isquith et al., 1965

Blepharisma seculum Genus: Elongate, ovoid; anterior apex often curves over the peristome; non contractile (Carey, 1992). In front of cytostome a two-layered undulating membrane on right edge; contractile vacuole and cytopyge terminal; rose-colored; many species (Kudo, 1966).
Species: Cell body 60-100 micro-m in length, 20-30 micro-m in width; slightly pink in color; thin and forms a tail when starved; dorsally curved, giviing the cell a sickled-shaped appearance; 10-14 somatic ciliary raws; AZM not reached anterior tip, but begins behind a slight beak; undulating membrane extends for 1/3 of the peristomal length, which is half the body length; macronucleus spherical, about 10 micro-m in diam.; 2-8 micronuclei (about 2 micro-m in diam.) located near the macronucleus; encystment observed; giantism and conjugation not observed (from Giese, 1973).

Blepharisma seculum, a starved cell, cell body 110 μm long, 32 μm wide, x 400, x 640, Uruguay, November 1999, photo by Y. Tsukii
scale 50 μm scale 100 μm scale 150 μm; x 400 : scale 31 μm scale 63 μm scale 94 μm; x 640
Blepharisma seculum Blepharisma seculum Blepharisma seculum
Blepharisma seculum Blepharisma seculum Blepharisma seculum Blepharisma seculum


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