James "Kibo" Parry (kibo at world.std.com) wrote:
: Okay, so the ameba Chaos Carolinensis is the world's largest protozoan,
: standing a hefty 1/10mm tall. It looks like a dot to the naked eye.
: Big fat hairy deal! What this world needs is a protozoan big enough to
: not only hold in your hand, but to hold up to the light so you can watch
: all the little internal thingies oozing around with the naked eye.
: Heck, you could even keep this hypthetical Big Protozoan as a pet.
: You could slice it up and have a tasty snack, or you could substitute it
: for the lost beanbag in that old Toss Across(R) game in your attic.
>>>>>>>SNIP<<<<<<<
Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. . .
1/10mm? No contest. If you're looking for the really big, exciting
protozoans, I might suggest that you join us over in the Eugregarinorida.
**Aikinetocystis singularis** Gates, 1926, was described from 4 species
of the genus **Eutyphaeus** from Burma. (**Eutyphaeus** is a earthworm.)
The body is very long and branched. Each brach bears an distal sucker.
Total length up to 4.0mm.
Gregarine specimens that exceed 1.0mm are not uncommon.
Course, you'd have to keep the host around if you wanted to have a really
big protozoan pet: the Eugregarinorida are all parasitic in invertebrates.
Rich
--
Richard E. Clopton ". . .there are few situations in life that cannot
septate at tamsun.tamu.edu be honourably settled, and without loss of time,
Dept. of Entomology either by suicide, a bag of gold, or by thrusting
Texas A&M University a despised antagonist over the edge of a precipice
Parasitologist. upon a dark night." --Ernest Bramah
