Description
Long rod shape flagellate (15-53G 1..1 m), Streblomastix strix, the only species, lives in the hindgut of termopsid termites such as Zootermopsis angusticollis (Fig. 1G). The body surface is carved in deep spiral ridges (4 to 8) and covered with long rod-shaped epibiont bacteria . The 4 flagella are inserted subapically at the base of the holdfast and are not adherent to the cell body. The 2 pairs of basal bodies are connected to the preaxostylar lamina. The axostyle is composed of few microtubular rows in the anterior part and reduced to one row around the elongated nucleus and to a th in bundle in the posterior part. Axostyle contraction is probably at the origin of the flexing movements of the cell body. Paraxostylar and pelta microtubules are present in the anterior part. The holdfast develops in cells attached to the intestinal wall. They probably feed by pinocytosis . They reproduce by longitudinal binary fission . During the molt of the termite , they are eliminated and then reintroduced with the proctodea! fluid . Ligh t microscopy in Grasse, 1952; Kofoid and Swezy, 1919; Kidder, 1929; STM views in Yamin , 1979b ; electron microscopy in Hollande and Carruette- Valentin , 197Ga. h ------ r ---- --- f --- n-- I latus (after Cross , 1946) showin g the a nt e ri or rostellum (r) term inated by a sm all holdfast (h) and containing the fibrous structure wh ich penetrates into the cell body, the 4 flagella (f) , the nucleus (n), and the axostyle (a) . Bar=10 ~m .
Type species
Figures
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Raw text
Long rod shape flagellate (15-53G 1..1 m), Streblomastix strix, the only species, lives in the hindgut of termopsid termites such as Zootermopsis angusticollis (Fig. 1G). The body surface is carved in deep spiral ridges (4 to 8) and covered with long rod-shaped epibiont bacteria . The 4 flagella are inserted subapically at the base of the holdfast and are not adherent to the cell body. The 2 pairs of basal bodies are connected to the preaxostylar lamina. The axostyle is composed of few microtubular rows in the anterior part and reduced to one row around the elongated nucleus and to a th in bundle in the posterior part. Axostyle contraction is probably at the origin of the flexing movements of the cell body. Paraxostylar and pelta microtubules are present in the anterior part. The holdfast develops in cells attached to the intestinal wall. They probably feed by pinocytosis . They reproduce by longitudinal binary fission . During the molt of the termite , they are eliminated and then reintroduced with the proctodea! fluid . Ligh t microscopy in Grasse, 1952; Kofoid and Swezy, 1919; Kidder, 1929; STM views in Yamin , 1979b ; electron microscopy in Hollande and Carruette- Valentin , 197Ga. h ------ r ---- --- f --- n-- I latus (after Cross , 1946) showin g the a nt e ri or rostellum (r) term inated by a sm all holdfast (h) and containing the fibrous structure wh ich penetrates into the cell body, the 4 flagella (f) , the nucleus (n), and the axostyle (a) . Bar=10 ~m .