Protaspis gemmifera Larsen and Patterson 1990

• Main Authors: Lee, Won Je, Patterson, David J.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2000
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Chromista; Cercozoa; Imbricatea; Thaumatomonadida; Thaumatomastigidae; Protaspis; Protaspis gemmifera; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5281829; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/313A87D7FF8B6B6EAE252763FF1A4FA0

Protaspis gemmifera Larsen and Patterson, 1990 (fi gures 22i, 23f -h) Description. Cell outline oval or roundish, 9-16 Mm long and 9-11 Mm wide, dorso-ventrally fl attened. Cell surface is rather warty. Two fl agella insert subapically in an indistinct ventral furrow. The anterior fl agellum is as long as the cell and the posterior fl agellum is about 1.3-3 times the cell length. The posterior fl agellum inserts in an antero-posterio r line of the anterior fl agellum and trails behind the cell. The nucleus is situated anteriorly below the fl agellar insertion, has caps and is roundish. Reserve material may be present as oval or rod shaped bodies. Glides very fast with the anterior fl agellum. Produces pseudopodia from the ventral furrow. Sometimes commonly observed. Description based on observations of 33 cells. Remarks. Generally, our observations agree with the original description of Larsen and Patterson (1990) although they did not refer to the warty surface. Protaspis gemmifera was recorded from Brazil and North Atlantic by Larsen and Patterson (1990) and Patterson et al . (1993), respectively. Cell lengths were previously reported as 10-17 Mm (Larsen and Patterson, 1990; Patterson et al ., 1993). Nuclear caps were not seen in any of the cells described by Patterson et al . (1993) but this character may have been overlooked because the nuclear caps may be di ffi cult to see in fast moving cells. Some cells did not have reserve materials in the posterior end of the cell, and reserve materials may not be useful as a diagnostic character although we have not seen the distinctive rod-shaped reserve materials in any species other than this one. Protaspis gemmifera resembles P. verrucosa Larsen and Patterson, 1990 in general appearance and length, but it has been distinguished by the longitudinal ventral furrow in P. verrucosa and the presence of nuclear caps in P. gemmifera . Figure 60b in Larsen and Patterson (1990), which is the type micrograph for P. verrucosa , shows some similarity to our cells in fi gure ...