Small is beautiful, new paper on the description of Zoothamnium mariella in PLoS ONE
As the result of Vincent Kendlbacher's master, the description of the new species of symbiotic colonial ciliate Zoothamnium mariella is out. It has a peculiar shape, different than other Zoothamnium close relative species, and it bears bacterial ectosymbionts.
Colony of Zoothamnium mariella sp. nov. attached to wood. CC BY 4.0
Zoothamnium mariella sp. nov. Detailed drawing of an entire colony and a microzooid, both in expanded condition. mi: microzooid, ma: macrozooid, t: terminal zooid, br: branch, st: stalk, sp: spasmoneme, ad: adhesive disc, am1: adoral membranelle 1 (polykinety), pm: paroral membrane (haplokinety), in: infundibulum, cp: cytopharynx, fv: food vacuole, man: macronucleus, min: micronucleus, tl: telotrochal band, b: bacteria. CC BY 4.0