Telonema subtilis Griessmann, 1913

Lee, Won Je, 2019, Small Free-Living Heterotrophic Flagellates from Marine Intertidal Sediments of the Sydney Region, Australia, Acta Protozoologica 58 (4), pp. 167-189 : 176

Telonema subtilis Griessmann, 1913

Figs 1h, 2l

Description: Cell outline is oval-ovoid. Cells are about 8 µm long, anteriorly narrow and posteriorly broad with a short anterior neck. Two flagella insert below the neck are acronematic and are slightly longer than the cell. The nucleus is centrally located. The cells swim backward with the flagella, which point behind the swimming cells. Food materials are shown in the posterior end of the cell. Not common. Only found once at Woolooware Bay.

Remarks: The observation is in accord with Griessmann (1913). This species has been found at marine sites in France, Mediterranean, Arctic Norway, Antarctica, Australia, Arctic Canada & Greenland, Japan, Belize, Norway and Gulf of Finland (e.g. Vørs 1992a, b, 1993a, b; Patterson et al. 1993; Tong et al. 1997, 1998; Vørs et al. 1995; Yabuki et al. 2013; Lee 2015). It has not been reported from freshwater sites. Previously cell lengths were reported to be from 4 to 18 µm. This species is distinguished from Telonema antarctica Thomsen, 1992 by the cell shape. Telonema antarctica is reniforme.

Figures

Fig. 2. (a)–(b) Mastigamoeba psammobia, (a) general appearance of cell, note cytoplasms drawn from the posterior end, (b) general appearance of different cell and note pseudopodia. (c) Hexamita inflata, general appearance, note the nucleus. (d) Trepomonas agilis, general appearance of cell. (e) Chilomastix cuspidata, showing general appearance. (f) Stephanopogon sp., showing general appearance. (g) Saepicula pulchra, showing general appearance of cell. (h)–(j) Goniomonas amphinema. (h) Form I, (i) Form II, (j) Form III, note flagellar ar- rangement. (k) Roombia truncata, note attached cell to the substrate by the tip of the posterior flagellum, note extrusomes, surface striations and deep gullet. (l) Telonema subtilis, showing general appearance. (m) Harpagon descissus, general appearance of cell. (n)–(o) Spironema multiciliatum, (n) general appearance of cell, (o) note the kinetics. (p) Psammosa unguis, general appearance of cell. (q) Bicosoeca conica, general appearance of cell. (r) Apusomonas proboscidea, genera appearance of cell, note the V-shaped structure on dorsal face. All micrographs are DIC images except for (b), which is phase contrast images. Scale bar in (r) = 10 μm for all figures.