ZOOLOGY
PHYLUM
Protozoa
Taxa of Focus
• • Phylum Protozoa – One-celled animals
• • Phylum Porifera – Sponges
• • Phylum Coelenterata – Jelly fish, Sea Anemone
• • Phylum Platyhelminthes – Flatworms
• • Phylum Nematoda – Round Worms
• • Phylum Annelida – Segmented Worms
• • Phylum Arthropoda – Animals with jointed
appendages
• • Phylum Mollusca – Shelled animals
• • Phylum Echinodermata – Spiny-skinned animals,
Introduction
• • Large assemblage of polyphyletic groups of
• animals
• • Range from unicellular forms (protozoans) to
• the most advanced forms (Primates).
• • The Animal Kingdom may be broadly divided
• into three groups:
• – Protozoa,
• – Parazoa, and
• – Metazoa (Simple and complex)
• All protozoan, parazoan and many metazoan
animals are grouped as invertebrates
General Characteristics of protozoa
• Single-celled or unicellular organisms; some live in
colonies;
• Size = microscopic (3 to 1,000 microns).
• No germ layers, tissues, or organs;
• However, specialized intracellular "organelles" are
present
• Over 64, 000 species have been described; about 50,
000 are free-living
• Locomotion by pseudopodia, flagella, or cilia.
• Symmetry = all types (bilateral, radial,
spherical, or asymmetrical)
• Free living, commensal, parasitic, or
mutualistic
• Mostly naked, but few have simple protective
exoskeletons (tests), E.g. Arcella and Difflugia
• Nutrition = autotrophic (holophytic), saprozoic,
saprophytic (absorption of simple organic materials
and dissolved salt from the surroundings to meet
the nutrient requirements of the organism) or
holozoic
• Reproduction: asexual = longitudinal and transverse
binary fission, budding, multiple fission (sporogony,
schizogony)
• Sexual = syngamy, autogamy, conjugation
Sexual reproduction
• Syngamy- fusion of two gametes from two
protozoans
• Autogamy- fusion of two gametic nucleii
within the same cell.
• Conjugation- Exchange of gametic nuclei
between two cells e.g. Paramecium sp.
Asexual reproduction
• By fission or Budding
• Fission : division of cells
a. Binary fision: division into two unidentical
individuals
b. Multiple fission: division into multiple
parts. It may be of 2 types- sporogony or
schizogony
Classification of Protozoans
Sarcodina
– Amoeba-like organisms (e.g. Amoeba, Entamoeba, Arcella)
• Mastigophora
– Phytomatigophorans (e.g. Euglena, Chlamydomonas)
– Zoomastigophorans (e.g. Trypanosoma, Giardia,
Trichonomas, Trichonympha)
• Ciliophora (e.g. Paramecium, Balantidium,)
• Apicomplexa (e.g. Plasmodium, Eimeria, Toxoplasma)
Class Sarcodina
• Organisms which move by pseudopodia
• Single nucleus, or monomorphic nuclei
• Examples:
– Amoeba - without a test, naked (free-living)
– Arcella - with a calcareous test (free-living)
• Diflugia- with a silicaceous test
• • Entamoeba - without a test (Entamoeba
histolytica- parasitic form
Entamoeba histolytica
• A parasitic form of Sarcodina which occurs
worldwide, mostly in the Tropics.
• It causes a intestinal infection which have
the highest incidence and prevalence is in
areas with poor sanitation.
• It is the most pathogenic of all intestinal
protozoa and causes amoebic dysentery or
amoebiasis
The pseudopodia
• Simply extentions of the cell cytoplasm.
• Cytoplasm consists of a more rigid
ectoplasm in a gel state & the less rigid or
fluid endoplasm in a sol state.
Alternation of the gel-sol state brings about
pseudopodial extension.
Types of Pseudopodia
• Lobopodia- large and blunt e.g. Amoeba
• Filopodia - Thin extensions
• Reticulopodia- Thin extensions which are
joined to form a mesh
• Axopodia- long, thin, supported by axial
filament
Figure 11.10
Amoeba
Pseudopod
Food Vacuole
Contractile Vacuole
Nucleus
Phagocytosis
Hyaline Cap
Amoeba hunting
food
Arcella
Test
Nucleus Pseudopod
Arcella
Class Mastigophora
• Organisms move by one or two flagella
• Single nucleus, or monomorphic nuclei
• Some are capable of photosynthesis; chloroplasts usually
present
• Others are either mutualistic or parasites
• Mostly bilaterally symmetrical
Taxonomy of Class Mastigophora
[Link] (Euglenophyta & Chlorophyta)
• Sub Class Euglenophyta – plant-like, solitary and
photosynthesize. e.g. Euglena
• Sub Class Chlorophyta - These are flagellated single
or colonial organisms, genetically different from
Euglenophyta. They are autotrophic, having
chloroplasts with chlorophyll. E.g. Volvox
Euglena
Euglena
Chloroplasts
Contractile Vacuole
Flagellum not
visible Stigma
B. Zoomastigophora/Zooflagelata
•• Sub-Class: Kinetoplasta – heterotrophic
•• Examples include; Trichonympha sp,
Trypanosoma
•sp, Giardia lamblia, Trichomonas sp. etc
• Trichomonas virginalis is a sexually
transmitted disease so called because it is
often symptomatic in infected female and
asymptomatic in males.
• • Trypanosoma is the parasite which causes
• sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis) in humans
• and Nagana disease in Cattle.
Trypanosoma – cause of sleeping sickness
• Organisms are only
heterotrophic
• No chloroplasts present
• all parasitic
Red Blood Cells
Organism
Trypanasoma sp.
Trypanosoma
Red Blood Cells
Giardia sp
Leishmania sp
Causes giadiais (a stomach
Causes leishmaniasis infection)
Zygote
Egg
Mother
Colony
Volvox sp. – Colonial species
Volvox life cycle
Class Apicomplexa
• organisms do not have
locomotor structures;
• all species are parasitic
• asexual reproduction
involves multiple fission
(schizogony, sporogony)
Example: Plasmodium smear – cause of Malaria
Final Host
Life cycle of Plamodium
causing malaria
Vector
Ring stage
merozoite trophozoite
Red blood cell
Trophozooite
Ring stage in red blood cell
Ring stage – Early Trophozoite
Schizont with merozoites in red blood cell
Red blood cell
Merozoites in the Schizont
Gametocytes
Female Male
Types of Plasmodium sp.
• Plasmodium vivax
• Plasmodium ovale
• Plasmodium malariae
• Plasmodium falciparum
• P. Falciparum is the most virulent causing over
50% of global malaria burden.
• Another key example of Apicomplexa is
Toxoplasma gondii
• T. Gondi causes toxoplasmosis, an opportunistic
infection in immuno-compromised people such
as HIV/AIDS patients.
• Toxoplasmosis is transmitted by contact with
cats and dogs
Class Ciliophora: The Ciliates
• Organisms move by cilia
• Usually two sizes of nuclei ; Macronucleus and
micronucleus
• Reproduction usually by transverse binary fission
• Sexual reproduction by conjugation
Examples:
• Paramecium sp., - Most common
• Balatidium coli- parasitic & the largest
Protozoan
• Stentor – Bell shaped
• Euplotes- Cilia fused into larger units
known as cirri
• Vorticella – Trumped shaped
Parameciu
m
Binary Fission – Asexual Reproduction
Conjugation – sexual reproduction
Vorticella
Stentor
The Flagella and Cilia
• Flagella are usually larger but both have
similar internal structure.
• Each part of their length contains 9+2
arrangement of microtubules called Axoneme
which strengthens it.
Protozoa: Ecological Importance
• Unicellular level of organization
• Highly specialized organelles for various
physiological processes
• Prominent members of the aquatic food chain,
especially detritivores and
• Symbiosis is highly developed among
members i.e. Commensals, parasites, mutuals,
and detritivores with multicellular organisms
