Rhynchomonas nasuta 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

Rhynchomonas nasuta Klebs 1893 ( Fig. 2k )

Observation: Cells are 3.5 to 6 µm long and flattened. The cells are flexible with a bulbous motile snout. The snout, which contains a mouth, beats slowly. The anterior flagellum lies alongside the snout and is hard to see, and the trailing flagellum is 2 to 2.7 times the cell length, and acronematic. The cells consume attached bacteria and cells move by gliding. Commonly observed.

Remarks: This species is one of the most widely reported taxa from diverse sites worldwide ( Patterson and Lee 2000). It can be distinguished from other small gliding species by the bulbous snout.

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.