Electron microscopy of amoeba-capturing Dactylella tylopaga, showing the morphology of a basidiomycete

Abstract

Dactylella tylopaga, a hyphomycete capturing terrestrial amoebae with adhesive knobs, showed the ultrastructural morphology of the Basidiomycota in that the cross walls in the hyphae were dolipore septa with parenthesomes. The parenthesomes were flattened and imperforate. The conidium (40 x 2–3 μm) of the fungus was composed of two cells with the upper cell bearing an apical, tubular extension. On one occasion, one of the conidia on an agar plate produced teardrop-shaped microconidia (2.5–3 x 1.5-1.8 μm) on sterigmatic outgrowths of each cell of the two-celled conidium.

Key Words:

• amoebae
• basidiomycete
• Dactylella tylopaga
• dolipore septum