Mayorella sp. (possibly M. viridis Leidy, 1874)


Mayorella sp. 1-2, 4-6: locomotive; 3: resting cell 7: nucleus (alive specimen); 8: nucleus (stained preparation) Scale bars 1-6: 20 mkm; 7-8: 10 mkm

Mayorella sp. 1: nucleus; 2: dictyosome; 3,5: cell coat; 4: zoochorella in the cytoplasm; 6: lipid drops in the cytoplasm; 7: mitochondria; 8: bacteria in the cytoplasm.
Scale bar: 500nm

  • Locomotive form variable, usualy elongate, or the cell looks like an irregular triangle. Anterior hyaline border always present. The cell sometimes forms short, wide conical pseudopodia, but usualy it moves without pseudopodial formation. Morulate uroid in most cells, in some - wide plicate uroid. Length in locomotion 60-105 mkm (average 91 mkm), L/B about 2.0 - 3.0.
  • Floating form irregular, with several large, conical pseudopodia.
  • Single spherical nucleus, about 8 mkm in diameter, with central endosome about 4 mkm in diameter. One contractile vacuole. Sometimes several irregular cristals in the cytoplasm. Each cell contains several hundreds of rounded algae cells (probably - zoochlorellae). Each cell is situated in its own vacuole. No cysts found.
  • The nucleolus has large central lacune.
  • Cell coat is a "cuticle" (Page, 1988), about 320 nm in thickness. It consits of several distinct layers of fibrillar matrix. Most close to the membrane layer consists of fine fibrills, parallel to the cell surface, its total thickness is about 140 nm. There are some prismatical elements embedded in this layer. The next layer is amorphous, electrone dense, about 15 nmn in thickness. Third layer is amorphous, electrone- transparent, about 50 nm in thickness. There are two tightly packed outer layers, both are very electrone-dense, about 10 nm in thickness each. Dictyosomes are not numerous, consist of 3-7 cisternae.
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