Discocelis saleuta Vørs 1988

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 : 65-66

Discocelis saleuta Vørs 1988 ( Fig. 4c )

Observation: Cells are 3.5 to 6.5 µm long, discshaped, flattened, anteriorly concave and posteriorly convex. Two flagella emerge from a depression on the anterior margin of the cell. The recurrent flagellum trails behind the gliding cell and is slightly longer than the cell. The shorter flagellum is less than 1 µm long, is hard to see and inactive. The nucleus is located anteriorly in the right half of the cell. The margin of the cell may be delicately punctate. The cells glide smoothly in closely contact with the substrate. Commonly observed.

Remarks: Discocelis saleuta has been described from marine sites in tropical Australia, Brazil, Finland and Panama ( Vørs 1988, Larsen and Patterson 1990) and reported cell lengths are 3 to 6 µm. This species is similar to Discocelis punctata Larsen et Patterson 1990 , but they can be distinguished by the cell length and by the presence/absence of the peripheral bodies ( Vørs 1988, Larsen and Patterson 1990). However, the cell length ranges overlap, and according to Larsen and Patterson (1990) and Vørs (1988) the peripheral bodies may be seen in D. saleuta . Some cells from this study also had delicate peripheral bodies visible by light microscopy. Further studies are required to establish the identity of both species.

Figures

Fig. 4. a – Carpediemonas membranifera; b – Kipferlia bialata; c – Discocelis saleuta, note a short flagellum; d – Metopion fluens, showing general appearance of cell, note shorter flagellum (arrow); e–f – Kurnaimonas celeris nov. spec., showing general appearance of cell; g – Pseudophyllomitus granulatus; h – Helkesimastix faecicola, showing general appearance and note short flagellum (arrow); i – Metromonas grandis, showing general appearance of cell and note the folded margin on the left side and short flagellum (arrow); j – Metromonas simplex, showing general appearance of cell and note short flagellum (arrow); k – Kiitoksia kaloista, showing two flagella and note short flagellum (arrow); l – Sinistermonas sinistrorsus nov. spec., showing general appearance of cell, and note flagellar insertion and beating pattern of anterior flagellum; m – Telonema subtilis, showing general appearance; n – Protist ‘1’. All micrographs are DIC images. Scale bar: 5 µm for all figures.