Spironema multiciliatum Klebs 1893

Lee, Won Je, 2015, Small Free-Living Heterotrophic Flagellates from Marine Sediments of Gippsland Basin, South-Eastern Australia, Acta Protozoologica 54 (1), pp. 53-76 : 60-61

Spironema multiciliatum Klebs 1893 ( Figs 1c , 2r–s )

Observation: Cells are lanceolate, relatively flattened and flexible. The cells have a spiral groove, long kineties and a tail, which tapers posteriorly, and are 15 to 21 µm without the tail. Many flagella are arranged in the kineties. The nucleus is located anteriorly or near the centre of the cell. When the cells are squashed, the cells are more flexible. Food materials are seen under the cell surface.

Remarks: Spironema multiciliatum was first found at a freshwater site in Germany ( Klebs 1893) and the previously reported range of cell length is 14 to 18 µm. The observations here extend the range of the cell length. This species resembles Spironema terricola Foissner and Foissner 1993 and S. goodeyi Foissner and Foissner 1993 , but can be distinguished by its smaller size and cell shape and by the length of kineties. Kineties are restricted to only the anterior part of the cell in S. terricola and S. goodeyi while kineties in S. multiciliatum extend to near the posterior end of the cell. Spironema multiciliatum is very similar to Stereonema geiseri reported from a freshwater site in Germany by Foissner and Foissner (1993) who separated S. multiciliatum from Stereonema geiseri because S. multiciliatum has the inability to perform euglenoid movement. However, both species are flexible and may be more flexible when cells aresquashed. The cell length ranges of these two species overlap and both species havethe same shape. Thus, Stereonema geiseri is regarded here as a junior synonym of Spironema multiciliatum .

Figures

Fig. 1. a – Chilomastix cuspidata, b – Rhynchopus amitus, c – Spironema multiciliatum, d – Psammosa unguis nov. comb., e – Apusomonas sp., f – Rhynchobodo formica, g – Mantamonas plastica, h – Roombia truncata, i – Thaumatomastix setifera, j – Ancyromonas impluvium nov. spec., k – Helkesimastix faecicola, l – Kurnaimonas celerisnov. spec., m – Sinistermonas sinistrorsus nov. spec., n – Kiitoksia kaloista, o – Protist ‘1’. Scale bar: 10 µm for all figures.

Fig. 2. a – Chilomastix cuspidata, showing general appearance of cell; b – Goniomonas amphinema, showing general appearance of cell; c – G. pacifica, note two flagella diverging; d – Percolomonas similis, note ventral groove; e – Bodo platyrhynchus; f – Neobodo curvifilus; g – N. saliens; h–i – Hemistasia phaeocysticola, note a papillum (arrow); j – Bordnamonas tropicana, showing general appearance and mouth (arrow); k – Rhynchomonas nasuta; l–o – Rhynchobodo simius; l – tubular ingestion organelle (arrow); m, o – showing groove; n – general appearance of cell; p–q – Rhynchopus amitus; r–s – Spironema multiciliatum; t – Amastigomonas debruynei, general appearance of cell; u – Amastigomonas mutabilis, note anterior flagellum projecting from sleeve and recurrent flagellum; v – Apusomonas sp.; w – Psammosa unguis nov. comb., general appearance of cell; x–y – Mantamonas plastica; x – note anterior flagellum (arrow) and y – ventral depression.All micrographs are DIC images. Scale bar: 5 µm for all figures.