Cap 2

usual 
proter and opisthe . 
Fission : cell division; asexual reproduction; the sole 
mode of reproduction (nuclear mitosis and exclud-
ing meiosis) in ciliates; many kinds or types – iso - or 
anisotomy ( filial products of equal or unequal size), 
palintomy, strobilation , and budding ; a cystic stage 
is sometimes regularly involved; in the usual binary 
fission, the anterior filial product is called the proter
and the posterior filial product, the opisthe ; see also 
Homothetogenic Fission , Interkinetal , Perkinetal , 
and Symmetrogenic Fission . 
Fixation Organelle : see Holdfast Organelle . 
Flange : literally, “a projecting rim”, used variously 
in ciliatology (e.g., an ectoplasmic flange underlies 
part of the paroral in the hymenostome Glaucoma ). 
Food Vacuole : intracellular vacuoles formed (usu-
ally) at the distal end of the cytopharynx and 
containing food materials in either a particulate 
or dissolved state; the food vacuolar membrane, 
supplied in the region of the cytopharynx , may 
originate in discoidal vesicles or packets delivered 
with the aid of certain microtubules in the vicinity; 
digestion takes place within the food vacuoles after 
fusion of acidosomes and lysosomes ; solid egesta 
are often discharged through a cytoproct ; also 
called phagosomes, phagocytic (“cell engulfing”) 
vacuoles or gastrioles. 
Forma : see mention under Variety . 
Fragmon : see Kinetofragment . 
Frange : band of perioral ciliature characteristic 
of certain nassophoreans ; varying in composition 
from an extensive line of specialized ciliature 
winding around much of the anterior end of the 
organism to a short linear group of as few as three 
pseudo membranelles or pavés adjacent to the 
cytostome proper; sometimes called an adoral cili-
ary fringe, but more often the hypostomial frange 
(ACF, Fig. 2.5Ae; HF, Fig. 2.3i). 
Fringe : on occasion, used alone or in other combi-
nations, with different meanings; sometimes incor-
rectly used when frange is meant; see Locomotor
Fringe . 
Fusiform Trichocyst : see Trichocyst . 
 G 
Gamma Membranoid : see Membranoid . 
Gametic Nucleus : the haploid nucleus derived 
by meiosis from the diploid micronucleus prior to 
conjugation ; meiosis may be followed by mitosis 
to produce the gametic nuclei. 
Gamone : soluble substances active in inducing 
conjugation (e.g., see Blepharmone ). 
Gamont : members of a conjugating pair (iso- or 
anisogamonts, equal or unequal in size, with the 
latter kind including micro- and macrogamonts 
or more commonly micro - and macroconjugants ); 
usage of this terminology is not widespread in cili-
atology; see Conjugation . 
Gastriole : see Food Vacuole . 
Gemmation : see Budding . 
Generative Nucleus : see Micronucleus . 
Germinal Field : line of non-ciliferous kinetosomes
associated with the terminal portion of the infracili-
ary base of the paroral or haplokinety of peritrichs ; 
serves as an anlage in stomatogenesis in peritrichs , 
and may be homologous with the scutico-vestige of 
 scuticociliates (GF, Fig. 2.6Ac). 
Germinal Kinety : see Germinal Field . 
Germinal Row : see Germinal Field . 
Glandule, Secretory : see Ampulla, Secretory . 
Golgi Apparatus (pl. Apparati ): intracytoplasmic 
membranous structure consisting of flattened sac-
cules (cisternae), often stacked in parallel arrays, 
and vesicles ; involved in elaboration or storage of 
secretory products, such as lysosomes and extru-
somes ; the Golgi apparatus is not prominent in 
ciliates, in contrast to the condition in many other 
protozoa; often called a dictyosome. 
Golgi Body : see Golgi Apparatus . 
Grain Convention : see Numbering Conventions . 
Gullet : non-preferred term used for the buccal cav-
ity of ciliates, such as Paramecium . 
Gymnostome : literally meaning “naked mouth”, 
and not really appropriate since ciliates with a 
cytostome have some kind of oral ciliature, the 
 suctorians being a notable exception. 
Glossary 31
 H 
Haploid : N set of chromosomes; in ciliate life 
cycles, haploidy is characteristic of the meiotically-
reduced gametic nuclei. 
Haplokinety (pl. Haplokineties ): once-popular 
term for the infraciliary base of a generalized 
paroral , especially in ciliates belonging to the class 
 Oligohymenophorea ; typically a double row of 
kinetosomes (paired tangentially as stichodyads ), 
joined in a zigzag pattern, generally with only 
the outermost kinetosomes ciliferous ; also used to 
mean the entire paroral , the ciliated portion plus its 
infraciliary base; in scuticociliates , the haplokinety 
or zeta membranoid has been described as com-
prised of one, two, or three kinetosomal segments 
(see remarks under Membranoid ), depending on 
the species under consideration (Hk, Figs. 2.6Cc, 
2.7a, 2.7b, 2.7e, 2.7i). 
Haptocyst : minute extrusome in the suctorial 
tentacles of suctorians ; presumed to contain lytic 
enzymes useful in the capture of prey organisms; 
sometimes still referred to as a microtoxicyst, a 
missile-like body, or a phialocyst (Fig. 2.9Cd). 
Haptotrichocyst : rod-shaped extrusome of rhyn-
chodid phyllopharyngeans ; synonym for acmocyst . 
Head : generalized term, variously used in ciliatol-
ogy, but usually in a nonspecific way. 
Heterokaryotic : possessing more than one kind 
of nucleus; characteristic of the great majority of 
ciliates, with their micro - and macronucleus ; see 
Nuclear Dualism (Fig. 2.12). 
Heteromembranelle : specialized term for each 
of the several to many adoral polykinetids of the 
 clevelandellid armophoreans ; the infraciliary bases 
of the anterior or third row of kinetosomes are 
joined to the posterior row by a different (hence 
“hetero”) set of interkinetosomal connectives; see 
Paramembranelle . 
Heteromerous Macronucleus (pl. Macronuclei ): 
 nucleus partitioned into karyomeres ( orthomere
and paramere ) with strikingly different DNA and 
RNA contents, and therefore, with differential 
staining capacities; found especially in cyrto-
phorian and chonotrich phyllopharyngeans ; see 
also Homomerous Macronucleus (Fig. 2.12r, 
2.12bb).
Heterotrophic : requiring organic molecules, typically
derived from other organisms, to provide nutrients; 
see Autotrophic and Mixotrophic . 
Histophagous : literally “tissue-eating”; the feed-
ing habit of ciliates living on or in the usually 
unhealthy (i.e., wounded, moribund, or decaying) 
bodies of aquatic or edaphic metazoa, including 
vertebrates (generally larval forms), as well as 
many kinds of invertebrates of all sizes; blood is 
one of the preferred tissues for certain ciliates; 
examples of histophagous forms include species of 
the hymenostomes Ophryoglena and Tetrahymena
and such scuticociliates as Anophryoides , 
Mesanophrys , and Porpostoma ; often misspelled 
as “ histiophagous ”. 
Holdfast Organelle : any structure by which a ciliate
can affix or attach, temporarily or permanently, to 
a living or inanimate substratum (e.g., by use of 
cilia, hooks, uncini, crochets, tails, loricae, mucous 
filaments, spines, stalks, suckers, tentacles, and the 
like); in the usual, more restricted sense, a special-
ized organelle, such as stalks of various kinds, the 
adhesive disc of mobiline peritrichs , the sucker
of some astomes or clevelandellid armophoreans , 
or the localized thigmotactic ciliature of many 
thigmotrichine scuticociliates ; see Attachment 
Organelle (Fig. 2.9B). 
Holotelokinetal : telokinetal stomatogenesis in 
which the oral anlage is derived by proliferation of 
kinetofragments from all somatic kineties ; found in 
 haptorians (Fig. 2.11Da). 
Holotrichous : having somatic cilia evenly distrib-
uted over the body surface; see Oligotrichous . 
Holotype : the individual organism to which is 
attached the species-group name; often with cili-
ates, it is accompanied on a type slide by a number 
of other individuals,