In this article we will discuss about the structure of balantidium. This will also help you to draw the structure and diagram of balantidium.
1. It is an endoparasite in the caecum and ascending colon of human beings.
2. It is supposed to be the largest available protozoan.
3. Ciliation over body almost uniform.
4. At the anterior end lies a wide aperture – the cytostome which opens into a tubular cytopharynx.
5. Cytopharynx is lined by an undulating membrane.
6. Ectoplasm and endoplasm clearly differentiated.
7. Ectoplasm bears rows of myonemes arranged in a semicircular fashion.
8. Endoplasm bears a large, dumb- bell-shaped macronucieus, a small micronucleus and one or two large contractile vacuoles.
9. A small cytopyge is present on one side near posterior end.
10. Nutrition heterotrophic and reproduction through fission, encystment and conjugation.