Observations on thecate swarmers of Pyrocystis species in laboratory culture: Pyrocystis fusiformis Wyville Thomson ex Murray and Pyrocystis pseudonoctiluca Wyville Thomson ex Murray (Dinococcales)

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Abstract
Thecate swarmers of P. fusiformis and P. pseudonoctiluca were observed in laboratory cultures. At the time when inspections were made, during daylight hours, thecal development appeared essentially complete. Release from the enclosing wall of the parent cell occurred in the early evening. The free-swimming phase was of short duration and was succeeded by ecdysis and rapid development of the extruded protoplast into the bladder-like vegetative form. A complete tabulation is presented here for P. fusiformis. Details of the thecal structure of this organism serve to clarify discrepancies in the literature concerning the armored stages of both species. While the presence of thecate states remains a rare and, at present, unpredictable occurrence in the cultures of P. fusiformis and P. pseudonoctiluca maintained in this laboratory, their role in asexual reproduction appears to be similar to that of the more commonly observed athecate aplanospores.

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