One parasomal sac lies anterior to each basal body of the somatic ciliature. A parasomal sac is an indentation of the plasma membrane that penetrates into the cytosol past the alveolus. Most sacs end ...

11 micrographs of views of a serially-sectioned contracted Vorticella convallaria cell that show the main features of this cell. This figure shows 4 food vacuoles. The helically contracted stalk is se...

Like other peritrichs the pellicle of Vorticella convallaria is sculpted into ridges and grooves that circle the cell perpendicular to the aboral/adoral axis of the cell body. Pellicular pores penetra...

V. convallaria preserved in collidine buffered fixative (not cacodylate) has a less dense cytoplasm in which oranelles are easier to recognize. The rough ER has vesiculated but this vesiculation enhan...

The cytoproct is the cell’s defecation site where spent digestive vacuoles fuse with the plasma membrane. In this cell the cytoproct is closed and forms a ridge along the posterior suture on the ven...

Kinetodesmal fibers arise from the proximal ends of the basal bodies and curve upward and to the cell’s right of the kinety. Together with kds arising from more posterior basal bodies they form a st...

Stacks of 4 or 5 kinetodesmal fibers occupy the longitudinal ridges in a cross-sectioned cell. The kds lie along the right side of each ridge (cell’s left side), and as the kds are tapered, the smal...

11 micrographs of views of a serially-sectioned contracted Vorticella convallaria cell that show the main features of this cell. This figure shows 4 food vacuoles; 3 segments of the macronucleus; peri...

Like other peritrichs the pellicle of Vorticella convallaria is sculpted into ridges and grooves that circle the cell perpendicular to the aboral/adoral axis of the cell body. Pellicular pores penetra...

The highest concentration of parasomal sacs is found in the oral region associated with the three ciliary membranelles, called in Paramecium, the ventral amd dorsal peniculi and the quadrulus. This mi...