Ditrema mikrous (de Saedeleer, 1934)

Most likely ID: n.a.

 

Synonym: n. a.

 

Sampling location: Simmelried

 

Phylogenetic tree: n.a.

 

Diagnosis: 

  • shell hyaline, thin, without xenosomes, sometimes covered with brownish crust
  • in frontal view spherical or oval, sometimes irregular or angular
  • in lateral view dome-shaped
  • shell with two opposite necks
  • length of shell (including necks) 9.3–13.6 µm
  • diameter of necks 1.7–2 µm
  • protoplast fills shell not completely
  • granulofilopodia form a dichotomously branched and anastomosing network
  • nucleus central, with a single nucleolus
  • several contractile vacuoles
Ditrema-mikrous
Ditrema mikrous

So far I could detect Ditrema mikrous only in the Simmelried. Like the similar species Ditrema longicollis, Ditrema mikrous likes to settle on floating coverslips. I could observe both species in parallel on the same coverslips. The main distinguishing feature from Ditrema longicollis is the size. According to De Saedeleer, 1934 (s. literature) Ditrema mikrous with 9.3–13.6 µm length (including the necks) is only half the size of Ditrema longicollis. I can confirm these size differences. In my population the length of the specimens was 12.3–13.9 µm which agrees well with the data of De Saedeleer. I could also observe that the shells of some specimens were covered with a brownish crust (s. fig. 3). This was different from the orange-brown or brown coloration caused by iron deposits that occur in Ditrema longicollis. Since I have not find any Ditrema shells with a length of 14–23 µm (i.e., the gap between the size range of Ditrema mikrous and Ditrema longicollis), Ditrema mikrous cannot be a smaller variant of Ditrema longicollis, confirming De Saedeleer’s delimitation.

 

More images and information of Ditrema mikrous: Ferry Siemensma-Microworld-Ditrema mikrous

Ditrema-mikrous

Fig. 1: Ditrema mikrous. L = 13.9 µm (including necks). A partly extended specimen with an irregularly shaped shell. Obj. 100 X.

Ditrema-mikrous

Fig. 2: Ditrema mikrous. L = 12.2 µm (including necks). A partly extended specimen with a spherical, hyaline shell. Obj. 100 X.

Ditrema-mikrous

Fig. 3: Ditrema mikrous. L = 12.4 µm (including necks). A fully extended specimen with a broad oval shell covered with a brownish crust. Obj. 100 X.