What are the methods of reproduction of the zooflagellates?

Answer 1

Zooflagellates reproduce asexually wherein a parent cell divides in half to produce an exact copy of itself. (The parent cell's nucleus is also divided, so that both cells each have a nucleus. The reproductive process is called binary fission.)

Answer 2

As regards the reproductive process in the Amoeba, no differentiated sexual organs have hitherto been discovered, and the true sexual form of the process is therefore unknown. Fresh individuals, however, may be produced in three ways: Firstly, by simple fission, the animal dividing into two parts, each of which becomes an independent organism. Secondly, by the detachment of a single pseudopodium, which becomes developed into a fresh Amoeba. Thirdly, by the production of little spherical masses of sarcode, which may be derived from the nucleus by fission, or may be produced by a segmentation of the endosarc, the animal having previously become torpid, and the nucleus and contractile vesicle having disappeared. These little masses, however produced, develop themselves when liberated into ordinary Amoeboe. This last method of reproduction is obviously very closely analogous to the production of "pseudonavicellae" in an encysted Gregarina.

The remaining members of the Amoebea are constructed more or less closely after the type of the Amoeba itself. In the nearly allied Difflugia, the sarcode forming the body of the animal is invested with a membranous envelope or "carapace," strengthened by grains of sand and other adventitious solid particles, and having a single aperture at one extremity, through which the pseudopodia are protruded (fig. 9). The animal generally creeps about head-downwards, so to speak; that is to say, with the closed end of the carapace elevated above the surface on which it is moving. Difflugioe often exhibit the phenomenon known as "conjugation" or "zygosis." Under these circumstances, two Difflugioe come in contact; the mouths of the two tests are brought together ; the two animals flow backwards and forwards into each other's tests, with an apparently complete incorporation ; and finally they separate again, and each retires to its own test. In Arcella there is a discoid or basin-shaped carapace, secreted by the animal itself, and likewise possessing but a single pseudopodial aperture, placed in this case on the flat surface of the body. One species of Arcella (viz., A. arenaria) is terrestrial in its habits.

Answer 3

Zooflagellates reproduce asexually through binary fission, where the cell divides into two equal parts. They can also reproduce sexually through conjugation, where genetic material is exchanged between two individuals to produce new genetic combinations. Some zooflagellates can also form cysts as a dormant stage to survive harsh conditions and then resume growth and reproduction when conditions improve.