The microscopic predator engulfs algae, drains the cells and spits out the shell. The amoeba Strigomyxa ruptor (large yellow-orange cell) engulfs its prey, a Closterium alga (elongated green cell). Unlike all known protists, the amoeba splits open its prey, extracts and consumes the innards, and ejects the undigested cell walls.
The vampire amoebae (Vampyrellida, Rhizaria) inhabit freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems and consume a wide range of eukaryotic prey. This includes diverse microalgae, fungi, and microscopic animals. One of the most captivating aspects of the vampyrellids is their ability to extract the cell contents of other eukaryotes after local dissolution of the prey cell wall, a feeding strategy that occurs in several vampyrellid families, but is best studied in Vampyrella species that attack zygnematophyte green algae. Here, we report two new vampyrellid strains from temperate moorlands in Germany with a yet-undescribed feeding strategy: internal protoplast extraction and cell wall regurgitation.
The vampire amoebae (Vampyrellida, Rhizaria) inhabit freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems and consume a wide range of eukaryotic prey. This includes diverse microalgae, fungi, and microscopic animals. One of the most captivating aspects of the vampyrellids is their ability to extract the cell contents of other eukaryotes after local dissolution of the prey cell wall, a feeding strategy that occurs in several vampyrellid families, but is best studied in Vampyrella species that attack zygnematophyte green algae. Here, we report two new vampyrellid strains from temperate moorlands in Germany with a yet-undescribed feeding strategy: internal protoplast extraction and cell wall regurgitation.
