BioImages: The Virtual Field-Guide (UK)
sp nov (rotatoria) (?New Species Of Gall-forming Rotifer)
| Date: | 21 February 2007 (Date may be unnatural as specimen was reared, grown or otherwise kept in captivity) |
| Location: | West Lancashire, England |
| Record Summary: | In galls on Vaucheria frigida |
| Associated organism: | in galled filament of Vaucheria frigida |
| Identification Notes: | The galls commence as smooth green swellings containing a dark slowly-moving rotifer. As the gall grows, the points develop, first as smooth outgrowths, eventually as short parallel-sided tubes. When the gall is mature it loses chlorophyll, turns pale brown and the ends of the points open to form exit tubes for escape of the new generation. Young green galls are generally stalked and clavate, whereas the older ones are sessile and spherical - maybe the filament grows on, or maybe this was a response to changing culture conditions? Rotifers visible in galls, the mother being much blacker than the juveniles. Single rotifers also occasionally seen inside the filaments. |
