I found Nassulides pictus in a moss sample that came from the branch of a tree. Kahl (1935) also found his specimens in moss, while Foissner (1980) found this species in small ponds and puddles of meltwater.

The specimens of my population were 70–90 µm long and thus corresponded approximately to the length also given by Kahl. Foissner, on the other hand, observed specimens up to 140 µm. The cytoplasm is completely filled with greenish and orange food vacuoles of phagocytized cyanobacteria. The contractile vacuole is located centrally with a ventral excretory spore. This lies below the basket, but slightly shifted to the right (s. fig. 1). My specimens had a rather ellipsoidal macronucleus, just as Kahl has drawn it (see drawing 1, above). I could not observe any caudal cilia as described and drawn by Foissner. The pellicle of my specimens were conspicuously thick due to a thick alveolar layer (s. fig. 2), which has a polygonal structure (s. fig. 5).

An important identification feature of nassulid ciliates is the course and shape of the hypostomial ciliary band (= synhymenium = nassulid frange). In 2002, Nassula picta was transferred to the genus Nassulides by Foissner et al. and renamed Nassulides pictus due to the fragmentation of the nassulid frange (s. fig. 3). I was able to observe this well and it corresponds to the drawings and descriptions of Foissner et al. (2002). The nassulid frange starts below the basket and runs over the left side of the body to the middle of the dorsal side (s. fig. 4).