''Floscularia ringens'' is a species of rotifer belonging to the class

Monogononta Monogononta is a class of rotifers, found mostly in freshwater but also in soil and marine environments. They include both free-swimming and sessile forms. Monogononts generally have a reduced corona, and each individual has a single gonad, ...

, which resides in a tube that it builds using many little circular pellets consisting of bacteria and small pieces of detritus. The name ''Floscularia'' was inspired by the flower-like shape of the organism. ''Floscularia ringens'' grows to around 1.5 millimeters long and resides in freshwater locations, where it makes its small tube by connecting to the bottom of the leaves of water lilies. It retreats into its tube when it is bothered."LM of sessile Floscularia ringen"
/ref>

Feeding behavior

''Floscularia ringens'' brings in food using water currents made with quickly moving cilia."Floscularia Ringens"
/ref> The quick, simultaneous movement of the two lobes consisting of cilia looks like little turning wheels.

Reproduction and development

Adult ''Floscularia ringens'' make

parthenogenetic Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and developmen ...

eggs that are kept in the tube. After the eggs hatch, the young stay in the maternal tube for a little time to finish developing before swimming off. A young ''Floscularia ringens'' has a cone-shaped body, short foot, little corona, and mastax with trophi, but it still seems to not be able to eat. In less than one day, the young ''Floscularia ringens'' makes a lasting connection to a substrate. Its corona now has four lobes, and the foot lengthens. After the corona develops the ''Floscularia ringens'' starts to eat through making currents, and it also begins to create its tube.

Moment of fame

A close-up image of ''Floscularia ringens'' came first place in the 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition that presents movies and photographs of life science images."Tiny critter becomes a big wheel"
/ref> The photograph depicts ''Floscularia ringens feeding method, showing its quickly moving cilia which pulls in water consisting food. Charles Krebs, the photographer of this image of ''Floscularia ringens'', had his picture chosen out of the 2,000 submissions to the 2011 competition, earning him Olympus imaging equipment valued at $5,000. Charles Krebs captured his photograph of ''Floscularia ringens'' using a method called

differential interference contrast microscopy Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy, also known as Nomarski interference contrast (NIC) or Nomarski microscopy, is an optical microscopy technique used to enhance the contrast in unstained, transparent samples. DIC works on the p ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5371754 Flosculariidae Animals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus