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IMAGE GALLERY: TESTACEA
Testacea live in a single-chambered shell consisting of organic material in which inorganic stuff like diatom shells or grains of sand are incorporated. Pseudopods are mostly lobular or fathom-like, exceptionally also reticular. The cytoplasm is diveded into the extruded pseudopods, the "nutritional zone" in which food is digested and finally the most inward and sheltered region containing the nuclei. Mostly asexual propagation by simple cell division which may, in the case of soft shells, may also include the shell itself. Sexual propagation so far unknown. Testacea a typical inhabitants of fresh water and are frequently found in mosses and the leave-detritus-containing top soil of fagan woods.
to see images, please click on the thumbnails below
Centropyxis sp. left photo by Dr. Javier Martinez-Abaigar, see also comment		Arcella sp.
Arcella sp.		Arcella gibbosa
Cyphoderia sp.	Euglypha	Corythion	Nebalia	Difflugia spp.

This page last updated April 27, 2007.