Radiolaria Tube - Scientific Observation Print - Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur

Reproduction engraving of: Tube Radiolaria

Original title Phaeodaria - Tube Radiolaires

Poster of Aulographis - Protozoa of the class Radiolaria (Phaeodarian Legion)

Illustration from the book Kunstformen der Natur, which is a collection of artistic lithographs of natural sciences published by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel between 1899 and 1904.

This naturalistic illustration is part of an overall style inspired by Ernst Haeckel, which greatly influenced the emerging Art Nouveau movement at the beginning of the ^20th century. This work, illustrating the impressive beauty and great diversity of the biological world, was complemented by a certain amount of scientific information, some excerpts of which are reproduced below.

This information is over 120 years old and some of it may be outdated!

Scientific classification:

 Phylum Protozoa
Main class Rhizopoda (Rhizopoda)
Class Radiolaria (Radiolaria)
Cannopylea Legion (Phaeodaria)

Scientific notice (extract) accompanying the poster print of Phaeodaria - Tube Radiolarians :

The various forms of Phaeodaria, also called Cannopyles, of which nearly 500 species are described, all share a particular structure of their living unicellular soft body. The inner part, the central cytoplasm, surrounds the large spherical cell nucleus and is characterized by a peculiar radiating structure with a central discharge canal, absent in all other radiolarians (see Plate 1, Figs. 4 and 6). The outer part of the soft body, the cell capsule (calymma), encloses a dark, usually brown or olive-green pigment corpuscle called the phaeodium, which rests on the radiating structure (Phaeodium). In contrast to this characteristic unicellular formation of the soft body, there is a great diversity of skeletons produced by these organisms, usually made of silica. Several typical forms of these skeletons are already shown in Plate 1. Usually, the skeleton is composed of hollow tubes assembled to form a Gregorian shell with rays, spines, and other appendages used to capture prey. The delicate species shown on Plate 61 belong to different families such as Aulacanthida (Fig. 18), Phaeospharida (Fig. 9-12) and Phaeogondida (Fig. 13-16).  Phaeodaria whose skeleton consists of many individual tubes assembled together; these are generally directed towards the center of the central Gregorian cluster and touch its outer surface with their inner end. Their outer end often bears rays, spines or crowns of spines. Only the outer ends of a few radial tubes of different species with their nodules are shown here.

Species present on the naturalist plate of Tube Radiolaria - Aulographis :

• Aulographis candelabrum
• Aulographis pulvinata
• Aulographis verticillata
• Aulographis asteriscus
• Aulographis furcula
• Aulographis triglochin
• Aulographis bovicornis
• Aulographis ancorata
• Sagenoscena stellata
• Sagenoscena ornata
• Auloscena mirabilis
• Conchoceras cornutum
• Conchonia quadricornis
• Coelographis regina
• Coelospathis ancorata