German zoologists have found previously unknown vampire amoebas in Germany’s marshes that die in the light and feed in a unique way. Laboratory analyses showed that these single-celled predators split algae cells in two and eat their contents. Experts described the new species as “destructive”.

From your school biology class, you probably remember the shapeless single-celled amoebas that move with pseudopods and live in freshwater reservoirs. But among these simplest ones lies a rather unusual treasure Vampirella are vampire amoebas. Almost 50 species of these creatures have been found on six continents and even in the oceans of the world.

They were nicknamed vampires because of an unusual feeding strategy: the extraction of protoplasts. Amoebas, for example, penetrate the cell wall of algae and swallow the contents. Ordinary amoebas capture prey and digest it in their nutrient vacuoles – a process called phagocytosis. Vampires are also versatile predators; many species eat both algae and nematodes, rotifers, fungi, and more.

Between Vampirella There are individuals with special feeding methods: some penetrate the victim’s cell, others invade the cell colony – it all depends on the prey. And most representatives of this treasure have not yet been discovered. But the other day in the journal Ecology and Evolution A paper has been published in which two German zoologists report the discovery of a new species of amoeba-vampire with a previously unknown predatory strategy.

Experts found new single-celled organisms in the marshes of Cologne and Recke (Germany). The amoebas, measuring 50 to 150 micrometers, feed on closterium algae, single sickle-shaped cells that are internally divided into two symmetrical halves. Biologists who examined water samples did not find the perforated algae that vampire amoebas usually leave in their cell walls. However, they did see fewer living monasteries and more desolate cell membranes.

New amoebas named have emerged Strigomyxa predatorIt absorbs all the algal cells and usually collects them in a pile of up to seven pieces. Then a red cytoplasm band was placed inside the food vacuoles in the middle of the closterium cell. After a while the cell split from the center and protoplasm came out from the two halves. In the same way, when we want to sweeten tea or coffee, we open a bag of sugar.

Additional analysis revealed that in the first seconds S. predator It makes a narrow opening in the cell wall of the algae and collects the protoplasm in other cavities after dissection. Finally, the amoeba discarded the empty algal cells as useless packaging or shells. The whole process from absorption to “spitting out” took 30-45 minutes. Observing the behavior of these orange-red cells was complicated by their extraordinary sensitivity to light (just like vampires): sometimes they burst when exposed to light for 30 seconds.

Zoologists who isolated the genetic sequence of the discovered amoebas placed them in a separate genus. StrigomixThe name is composed of two Latin roots: strix (στρίξ), the mythical bird that feeds on flesh and blood, and slime (μυξα). Proper name shredder The word literally means destroyer and refers to the way amoebas feed.