| 2a | (1) | Specimen is obviously a plant with green pigment (chlorophyll). { Thallus (the plant body) growing attached or floating. Thallus is either a crust or a mass, or thallus is filamentous (hair-like, and branching or not); OR specimen is a plant with leaves, roots and/or stems | [24] | |||||
| 2b | Specimen lacks green pigment OR appears to, OR specimen is not a live plant or animal { Color is either black, brown, tan, red, pink, orange, gray, yellow, white, or mostly transparent OR if non-living, any of these or green. | [3] | ||||||
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| 3a | (2) | Specimen is or appears to be a living organism | [4] | |||||
| 3b | Specimen is or appears to be mineral { either a rock, rock formation, sediment, or soil OR a skeleton of a once-living organism | [100] | ||||||
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| 4a | (3) | Form is either a gelatinous mass (firm or soft), a gelatinous egg mass, a smooth crust, or form is more or less thread like (filamentous; branching or not). Color is gray to black or dark blue-green; OR color is olive, brown, tan, orange, red, or mostly transparent | [5] | |||||
| 4b | Form is a hispid (covered with stiff points or hairs) crust or mass, OR is branching, but not filamentous; OR form is a distinct shape and appears to be an egg, mass of eggs, or a case. Color usually light yellow, light tan, or white, without blue or blue-green | [10] | ||||||
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| 5a | (4) | Form a weak or strong gelatinous mass or gelatinous string, may contain egg-like units or not | [6] | |||||
| 5b | Not gelatinous. Form either a thin crust, or more or less thread-like (branching or not), or a non-gelatinous mass of egg-like units | [8] | ||||||
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| 6a | (5) | Color orange-brown (rust-colored) or light brown or pinkish. Form macroscopically amorphous (without any evident structure): diffuse floc or gelatinous to flocculent in water or forming rust-colored stains and slimes on banks around seeps (Fig. 1). Microscopically seen to consist of thin (~1 micron) filaments mostly less than 0.2 mm long. Iron bacteria | [Note D] | |||||
| 6b | Color not like rust. Form either a solid mass of some other color; OR if soft and gelatinous, then with white or dark egg-like structures embedded in the gelatinous material (Fig.2) | [7] | ||||||
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| 7a | (6) | Gelatinous mass suffused with color: either red, brown, green, or some shade of green or brown, or very dark | [33] | |||||
| 7b | Mass a small, clear gelatinous body with nearly microscopic, round white bodies (eggs or embryos). Molluscan (snail) eggs | |||||||
| 7c | Gelatinous material clear, holding macroscopic, round or slightly elongated dark bodies (eggs or embryos; Fig. 2). Amphibian eggs | [40] | ||||||
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| 8a | (5) | Form is egg-shaped or a cluster of egg-like units | [12] | |||||
| 8b | Form either a thin crust, or thread-like and branching | [9] | ||||||
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| 9a | (8) | Form is a crust; OR, if thread-like, then microscopically seen to be a chain of cells only one or a few cells thick | [30] | |||||
| 9b | Form is a branching colony of intimately connected individuals, not a chain of cells ~ Phylum BRYOZOA |
[38] | ||||||
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| 10a | (4) | Form is a mass, or egg-like, or a cluster of egg-like units; OR form is a case of some kind. (Fig. 3 shows statoblasts of a bryzoan) | [11] | |||||
| 10b | Form is a branching colony of intimately connected individuals ~ Phylum BRYOZOA |
[38] | ||||||
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Figure 3. Statoblasts (?floatoblasts) of a bryozoan (Plumatella sp.) on the underside of a rock. Each asexually produced resting stage is about 0.3 mm long. On the right is the attachment portion of a released sessoblast. |
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| 11a | (10) | Form is egg-shaped or a mass composed of egg-shaped objects | [12] | |||||
| 11b | Form is not egg-shaped but some other shape; if a mass, then not a mass of egg-shaped pieces | [13] | ||||||
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| 12a | (8) & (11) |
Eggs about 3 mm in diameter, arranged in an elongated mass attached to vegetation or other objects above the water line of relatively still waters (ponds, lo`i, drainage ditches). Having a white, calcareous shell, but contents (and overall color if fresh) is salmon red. Applesnail egg mass~ Phylum MOLLUSCA ~ Class GASTROPODA ~ Family PILIDAE ~ Pomacea sp.
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| 12b | Eggs smaller, or if similar size, then not pink or red in color | [14] | ||||||
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| 13a | (11) |
Whitish, papery, cylindrical or urn-shaped to 4 mm across, attached at base to submerged vegetation; upper end with circular cover extended at one edge into long narrow piece reaching to or towards water surface. egg case ~ Class INSECTA ~ Family HYDROPHILIDAE |
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| 13b | Shape or form is otherwise | [14] | ||||||
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Figure 4. A freshwater sponge growing as an encrusting mass over a rock surface. Note hispid surface and deep layer of yellowish egg-like structures called gemmules in lower quarter of photo. |
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| 14a | (12) & (13) |
Mass a yellowish to light tan encrusting growth with numerous voids (sponge-like). Mass with or without a layer of
many, small (about 1/3 mm) yellow spheres (Fig. 4). Sponge ~ Phylum PORIFERA, Family SPONGILLIDAE
Heteromyenia baileyi (Bowerbank)
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| 14b | Shape or form is otherwise | [100] | ||||||
- Note D:
- Your identification is leading to a group of microscopic organisms which is not considered further in this dichotomous key.
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| © 2008 AECOS, Inc. [FILE: keys_prelim.html] | Miscellaneous |
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| INSTRUCTIONS INDEX REFERENCES | 13 | ||