Acanthocystis, Diplophrys, Frontonia, testate amoeba

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Tue May 31, 2011 8:59 pm

Been a slow spring subject-wise for me. So last night I was determined to find a couple of things to photograph. Nothing exotic here, but at least I got to exercise my "trigger" finger!

When I initially saw the subject of the first shot with the lower power scanning objective it seemed to be something unusual... a heliozoan with a big orange eye! But as I looked closer it appeared to be an Acanthocystis (aculeata ?) that had ingested a Diplophrys. Interesting nonetheless. There were quite a few Diplophrys in this slide, and the third shot is a a b+w of this odd little creature. The filose pseudopodia come out of two holes on opposite side of the rigid shell. (These are better seen with phase contrast illumination). One common characteristic is a large orange (usually) cytoplasmic droplet that tends to give it a disembodied "eye-like" appearance.

At the bottom is a Frontonia and a testate amoeba. The amoeba is moving along the cover-slip which is covered by (out-of-focus) bacteria.

Olympus BHS. Zeiss 63/1.40 Plan Apo. DIC with electronic flash. Canon T3i.

Olympus BHS. Olympus 100/1.40 S Plan Apo. DIC with electronic flash. Canon T3i.

Olympus BHS. Zeiss 63/1.40 Plan Apo. DIC with electronic flash. Canon T3i.

arturoag75 · Post by **arturoag75** » Tue May 31, 2011 11:43 pm

Very good shots Charlie,
i see that t3 camera working good whit flash.
i like very much the Frontonia one...
best
arturo

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 5:34 am

Very nice.

I see that you are using a Zeiss Plan Apo 63x, are you using any compensator lens with it?

Rogelio

discomorphella · Post by **discomorphella** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:37 am

Hi Charlie--

It must be the season for Amoebae to overindulge. I just saw some Nuclearia that were completely full of green and/or blue-green algae. The B/W shot is great, the extensive network of filopodia is hard to capture. Spring has finally arrived in the NW and the ponds are starting to yield interesting creatures.

David

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:41 am

Rogelio,

I see that you are using a Zeiss Plan Apo 63x, are you using any compensator lens with it?

They are used on the BHS with the the Olympus NFK photoeyepieces and the Olympus DIC hardware (using the prism for the 60/1.40 S Plan Apo). The DIC ewffect is good, but the background is a little more "uneven" in tonality. As far as CA (eyepiece correction) is concerned, the NFK seems to do a very nice job with these objectives.

I really do like these Zeiss Apos, but there sure are a large number of them out there that have "delamination" problems. I think this 63X has a bit, and I have a 40X that definitely has some. Still give a good image.... but....

. Always a gamble to buy one unless you have an assurance it can be returned because of this issue after inspection and trial.

fpelectronica · Post by **fpelectronica** » Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:49 am

Superb shots
I love the 3
Francisco