Internet Archive

Spirostomum, photographed 1/14/26 at 250x (left) and 1/17/26 at 1000x (right). Among the most charismatic of the protozoans (or at least, as charismatic as a protozoan can be... they're all charismatic to me!) due to how large they get. You can see these folks without a microscope! That is, until they contract to a fraction of their size. It's done in a spiral motion, hence the name. The ones in these photos are pretty large, but ones I've found more recently have been quite small. Lots of variation! They can reproduce sexually by conjugation, but tend to do so with similarly sized individuals. I wonder how they tell?

Phacus, photographed 3/26/26 at 1000x total magnification. Another euglenoid that is immediately recognizable. Though the genus is very large, that leaf shape is a dead give away. I think I've only ever mixed them up with Monomorphina, and that's only because those guys are so small and never stop moving around. But really, once you get a good look at them, the difference is clear. Always nice when a euglenoid makes ID easy on me. Not all of them are like that...

Lepocinclis oxyuris var. helicoidea. Photographed 3/26/26 at 100x and 250x total magnification. Any member of the Euglenid class is a treat to come across, but this one especially so for its large size and slow movement, making it easy to photograph. Very lovely striations and long, rod-shaped paramylon grains, and of course that long tailpiece that is so often a feature of this genus.

このチェック表も、もうちょっとうまく整理できないものか考え中。