page_title: Collodictyon
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Collodictyon / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: A rough illustration of Collodictyon, a single-celled eukaryote with four flagella for movement, which lives in Lake As, a lake south of Oslo, Norway. According to several reports, Collodictyon may be notable for being "man's remotest relative", and further study may yield insights into the prehistoric beginnings of man hundreds of millions of years ago.
context_page_description: Collodictyon is a genus of single-celled eukaryotes belonging to the collodictyonids, also known as diphylleids. Collodictyonids do not belong to any well-known kingdom-level grouping of that domain. Recent research places them in a new 'supergroup' together with rigifilids and Mantamonas, with the so-far informal name 'CRuMs'.
context_section_description: The species in this genus range in size from 30 to 50 µm in length, can grow broad pseudopodia, and have four flagella and a ventral feeding groove or sulcus. They are devoid of cellulosic cell walls, chloroplasts or stigmata. There are two to several contractile vacuoles.
  The cell shape is variable but is mostly obovoid to ellipsoid. The lateral cell margins maybe somewhat angular leading to  a broad, truncated rounded apex. This posterior margin narrows posteriorly and either bears 1-3 lobes or is simply broadly rounded. This margin is often pseudopodial.
  The nucleus typically lies in the posterior half of the cell.
  The mitochondria have tubular cristae.
  Organelles called dictyosomes are present and arranged in a horseshoe like shape.
  Members of this genus are known to reproduce asexually through cell division. Whether sexual reproduction occurs is currently unknown.
  Collodictyon triciliatum has four flagella connected to basal bodies, generally of equal length, as long as or slightly longer than the body of Collodictyon. Number one flagellum is connected to a dorsal root, while number two flagellum is connected to a ventral root. Number three and four flagella are on either side of these two and have dorsal roots.
caption: Sketch of Collodictyon.
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