Protaspis tegere Larsen et Patterson 1990

Aydin, Esra Elif & Lee, Won Je, 2012, Free-living Heterotrophic Flagellates from Intertidal Sediments of Saros Bay, Aegean Sea (Turkey), Acta Protozoologica 51 (2), pp. 119-137 : 133

Protaspis tegere Larsen et Patterson 1990 ( Figs 3k , 4p)

Observation: Cells are oblong or ovate, 12 to 19 μm long and slightly flattened. The cells have a longitudinal median ventral groove extending from the location of flagella insertion through to the posterior end of the cell. The cells have two flagella of unequal length; the anterior flagellum inserts subapically in the slight depression and is about the cell length. The posterior one inserts below the anterior flagellum and is 1.8–2.1 times the cell length. The nucleus is disc-shaped with anterior caps and is located anteriorly. Pseudopodia may be produced from the ventral groove. The cells move by gliding. Description based on records of nine cells.

Remarks: Our observations are in agreement with the observations of Larsen and Patterson (1990) and Lee and Patterson (2000). Cell length was reported to be 14 to 25 μm and this species is reported from marine sites in Australia, Fiji and Hawaii ( Larsen and Patterson 1990, Ekebom et al. 1996, Tong et al. 1998, Lee and Patterson 2000, Lee 2001). Protaspis tegere may be a junior synonym of Protaspis glans because the only difference between these two species is the presence of nuclear caps and theses might have been overlooked.

Figures

Fig. 3. a – Petalomonas marginalis; b – Petalomonas minuta; c – Petalomonas ornata; d – Petalomonas poosilla; e–f – Ploeotia corrugata; e – general appearance of the cell from ventral and (f) dorsal view showing the ridges; g – Sphenomonas angusta; h – Ploeotia vitrea; i – Polyoeca dichotoma; j – Protaspis obliqua; k – Protaspis tegere; l – Salpingoeca marina; m – Pseudophyllomitus granulatus; n–p – ‘Aegoni’, n – postero-lateral view of the cell showing the beak – like structure; o – posterior view of the cell showing the flagellar insertions; p – general view of the cell. Scale bar: 5 μm for all figures.