Centers for Disease Control/Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria
EOL staff
Life cycle of Balantidium coli, the cause of human balantidiasis The cyst stage (1) of the B. coli life cycle is responsible for transmission.The host most often acquires the cyst through ingestion of contaminated food or water (2). Following ingestion, excystation occurs in the small intestine and the trophozoites colonize the large intestine (3). The trophozoites reside in the lumen of the large intestine of humans and other animals, where they reproduce by binary fission, during which conjugation may occur (4). Trophozoites undergo encystation to produce infective cysts (5). Some trophozoites invade the wall of the colon and multiply. Some return to the lumen and disintegrate. Mature cysts are passed with feces (1).From Centers for Disease Control Parasites and Health website
[taxonomy:genus=Vorticella]
Date:
23 Aug 2011
Location:
Small lake in Kent Ridge Park. Water margin with vegetation, brown sediment with organic detritus. Tadpoles resting nearby.
Microscope:
Bright-field with closed condenser aperture.
Camera:
Nikon D7000
Collector:
Brandon Seah
Scale:
20830 pixels/mm = 20.8 pixels/µm
Oligotrich ciliates are the most abundant group of the microzooplankton, feeders on microscopic algae in the plankton. This small (50 microns), very typical cell is probably a Strombidium.
Data from Dolan, J.R., Pierce, R.W. 2012. Diversity and Distributions of Tintinnid Ciliates. in Biology and Ecology of Tintinnid Ciliates: Models for Marine Plankton, Dolan, J.R., Agatha, S., Coats, D.W., Montagnes, D.J.S., Stocker, D.K. (eds). Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, pp 214-243
A conjugating pair of Acanthostomella norvegica from the Chukchi Sea in 2012. Z stack of images made with a 60x objective, DIC optics, lugol's preserved specimens.
Tracheloraphis oligostriata is marine karyorelictid ciliate. This ciliate was collected from a sandy beach (3606N; 12034E) at Qingdao, China. Image taken by Ying Yan.
Favella Ehrenbergii (as Tintinnus ehrenbergii) based on specimens found near Bergen, Norway; text is on pp 203-204. Plate 8 legend states that the drawings are of the same individual: the cell extended vibrating its cilia, the cell contracted within the lorica. 'vc' denotes contractile vacuole and 'w' 'anus' or cytoproct. From Claparde, E., Lachmann, J. 1858-1860. Etudes sur les infusoires et les rhizopodes. Mmoires de l'instut Genevois, 5, 6 & 7.
The species now known as Peniculistoma mytili was first described as Conchopthirus mytili by William De Morgan in 1925 in an article in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association (vol 13, 600-660).
