Rhodelphis edaphicus

Unlike other Rhodelphis species, this one was isolated from agricultural soil, not from a body of water. Even more intriguing, it has several characteristics that are rare in other species, and these were responsible for the delay in publishing these images, because I had to redraw everything to correct the errors.

But let's see: R. edaphicus shares the same property with other species regarding the length of its flagella: the posterior flagellum is longer than the anterior one. In other species, only the posterior flagellum has simple mastigonemes. But in R. edaphicus, both flagella have mastigonemes, and not only that, but there are two types: complex mastigonemes (which are usually made of 3 pieces or parts, although they can also be made of only parts 1 and 2), and between them, several mastigonemes or "simple hairs," whose shape resembles part 3 of the complex mastigonemes.

Additionally, on the dorsal side of the cell, there are three grooves, and on the ventral side, there is only one. In the main image of the individual, I have depicted all the grooves, but note that the ventral groove shouldn't be easily visible because it's located underneath. In the other images, I haven't depicted the grooves. I could say it's due to laziness, but microscopy is on my side: under a light microscope, the grooves are barely noticeable.

There is also a keel-like structure that separates the flagellar pockets. In case you didn't know, flagellar pockets are invaginations that surround the bases of the flagella, and I believe they are related to motility. These pockets are present in all Rhodelphis species, but I haven't depicted them in other drawings. I have included them here because of this anatomical feature: between these pockets in R. edaphicus, there is this keel-shaped wall. In the anatomy image, the circle is enlarged as a "section of the ventral area," but I think using the term "section" is incorrect because it's not a longitudinal or transverse section as such. It's simply an enlargement of how that piece circled in red would look on the ventral side.

Another characteristic of R. edaphicus is the presence of three contractile vacuoles, arranged like the corners of an isosceles triangle (don't know what an isosceles triangle is? You'll see that you need to know geometry to study biology). They also have food vacuoles, which form after ingesting bacteria or another unicellular eukaryote. In these images, I haven't shown the food vacuoles. Finally, R. edaphicus has at least two possible morphs: one cone-shaped (although I would say it's more like the shape of those crepe cones or the ones they sell fries with chicken nuggets in), and another more globular form that appears in the article describing the species (Figure 1J). It looks to me like a morbidly obese specimen.

Another morphological peculiarity to mention: when an individual is going to divide (binary fission), first the dividing cell acquires an almost rectangular shape, then the two future cells acquire the normal "oval" shape.

Of course, keep in mind that the colors used in these drawings are merely representative, to illustrate and differentiate the parts, and do not necessarily correspond to reality. In fact, the organism is colorless, and under a light microscope, some parts are barely visible. 

All this information, as well as the information I used to create these illustrations, was obtained from the article by Belyaev et al. 2025: "Rhodelphis edaphicus sp. nov.—a new lineage of predatory archaeplastids from agricultural soil". Please, if you want to know more about this organism, or see real images of its cells, take a look. The article is freely accessible!

You can use my illustrations for your projects, homework, presentations, articles, essays, website, or whatever you like. The only requirement is that you give me proper credit. Simply write something like "DOTkamina 2025".

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Ä̵̛̻͖̩͍̿̈́̊̃̚n̸̢̥̝͚̳̮͍̲̣̺̝͇͕͍̏͗̏͆͗̽̇͒͆̄̈̃͐̾͠ḑ̷̭̪̱͎̜̞̰̌ ̴̲̖̠̘̮̃͑̑̑͗͆ͅĮ̴̧̻͈͚̍̈́̍͊̋̕ ̴̨̛͙͙̝̫͈͇̠̥͔͍̎̒̈́͗̄͐̃̽̊͊̕͝f̵̧̯̘̫̹̺̹̼̬̘͉̺̜͎̼̀͂̐̈́͆͐͝͝e̵̘̰̞̺͑̽͝l̴̹̽͆̈́̀́͠l̵̨͖͕̞̖̰͋̌̿̾̋͆͗͘͝ ̸̢͓͇̪̝̣̻̍͛̎̇̑͋̍͛̐͝f̵̛̛̳̤̻̃́͑̃̐͒͊́̈́̎õ̴͕̜̲̰̓̄̅́̋̔̎̈̔͑͝͝ṛ̷̱̺̳͖̎́̃̊̈́͜ͅ ̸̬̜̠̹̬̭͍̯͔̤̘̣̩̬̂͑̽͑͋̂̾͊̆̉͊͛̕̚͝ͅh̶̙̦̲͊͋̕è̷͎̣͙̥̬͎̱̔͌͐͛̈́͊͛̐͐̕̚͝r̶̨̢̪̪͉͇̱̝̲̻̲̻̱͍͂̆́͂̑́ ̵̡̛̛͇͔̈́͒̾͐̀͗̄͠͝͝͠͝a̵̢̛̦̲̻͙͎̜̖̟̒͛̐̿̍̋̏̈́̾g̴̨̧̛̛̠̰͚̟̪͓̩̼̖̾̒̓͆̋̊̏̾̏͝͠͝a̵̡̗͚̗̹̖̱̹̅́̾͘͝ͅͅį̵̫̹̦͙͍͔̺̩̤̱̯̱̭́̐̄̀͘͜n̷̙̺̯̱͓͕̦̘̞̫͓͗̍̔͊͐͊̉̋͜͝.̵̢̢̰̜̜̣̟̘̪̜̮̳̣͙̬͂̈́̀̅̅̽͝.̷̨̨̣̰͙͕̯̝̫̈́̒.̵̨̛̦͉̝͓̿̓̀͛̿͋̊́̔̎̃͆

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