Trachelomonas

Trachelomonas
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
(unranked):	Excavata
Phylum:	Euglenozoa
Class:	Euglenoidea
Order:	Euglenales
Family:	Euglenaceae
Genus:	Trachelomonas Ehrenberg, 1833

Trachelomonas is a genus of swimming, free-living Euglenids characterized by the presence of a shell-like covering called a lorica. Details of lorica structure determine the classification of distinct species in the genus. The lorica can exist in spherical, elliptical, cylindrical, and pyriform (pear-shaped) forms and measures anywhere from 5 to 100 μ in diameter or length. The lorica surface can be smooth, punctuate or striate and range from hyaline, to yellow, or brown. These colors are due to the accumulation of ferric hydroxide and manganic oxide deposited with the mucilage and minerals that comprise the lorica. In Trachelomonas, the presence of a lorica obscures cytoplasmic details of the underlying cell. In each Trachelomonas cell, there is a gap at the apex of the lorica from which the flagellum protrudes. Thickening around this gap results in a rim-like or collar-like appearance. During asexual reproduction, the nucleus divides yielding two daughter cells one of which exits through the opening in the lorica. This new cell then synthesizes its own new lorica.