Kipferlia bialata ( Ruinen 1938 ) Kolisko et al. 2010

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 : 66-67

Kipferlia bialata ( Ruinen 1938) Kolisko et al. 2010 ( Fig. 4b )

Observation: Cell outline is kidney-shaped. Cells are 6 to 14 µm long (mostly 9 to 12 µm), not rigid, and with a longitudinal ventral groove. A membrane moves down along the groove. Two flagella emerge from the anterior part of the cell; the anterior flagellum bends backwards, is about the length of the cell and beats over the cell with a slow sweeping motion. The acronematic posterior flagellum beats asymmetrically and is about 1.5 times cell length. The posterior flagellum may vibrate actively in the groove when not beating. The cells consume bacteria, and food materials are transferred by the moving membrane to the back of the cell. The cells may have many food vacuoles and attach to the substrate with the tip of the posterior flagellum. The cells move slowly by skidding or gliding with the anterior flagellum beating with a flicking motion. Commonly observed in late cultures.

Remarks: This species was originally described by Ruinen (1938) as Cryptobia bialata from Australia with biflagellated protist having a ventral groove and an undulating membrane, but was transferred to Carpedimonas by Lee and Patterson (2000) because it has many similar characters to Carpediemonas . Recently Kolisko et al. (2010) created a genus ( Kipferlia ) for this taxon on the basis of molecular and ultrastructural studies. Previous authors reported the species to be 6–14 µm long. This species resembles Ergobibamus cyprinoides Park et al. 2010 and other Carpediemonas -like organisms presented by Kolisko et al. (2010) in that they are bean-shaped, have two flagella, and a conspicuous ventral groove. They may be not easily distinguished by light microscopy. For further discussion see Kolisko et al. (2010) and Park et al. (2010).

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.