Saturday 19 May 2012

Sphaerita spp.


Sphaerita spp.

“Big bugs have little bugs, on their backs to bit them’
Little bugs have lesser bugs, and so on ad infinitum”
Anonymous

Some protozoan parasites can themselves be parasitized.  A hyper-parasite! The genus Sphaerita is considered to be a lower fungus and some species are capable of invading the cytoplasm of some amoeboid parasites.  Another parasite of parasites is Nucleophaga species which invades the nucleus.  Sphaerita, (sometimes called Polyphaga spp.) appear as tightly packed clusters within the cytoplasm and measure approximately 0.5 µm to 1.0 µm.

The parasite show below is possibly an Entamoeba coli, however the nucleus is not visible as it is out of the plane of focus.  Sphaerita appears as the small dots within the cytoplasm.

 An amoeboid parasite itself parasitized by the fungal parasite Sphaerita spp.  The Sphaerita appear as the neatly arranged circular dots withing the cytoplasm.
 Iron hematoxylin stain (X1000) Nikon


 An amoeboid parasite itself parasitized by the fungal parasite Sphaerita spp.  Doesn't appear to be digested material or inclusions. This parasite appears to have a rather dark blotchy karyosome reminiscent of Iodamoeba  bütchlii.  Unfortunately I failed to record measurements when I took these photos.  E.coli, Iodamoeba  bütchlii and E.nana were all present in this particular specimen.
Iron hematoxylin stain (X1000) Nikon

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