Thiomargarita magnifica

Thiomargarita magnifica
Light microscopy montage of the upper half of a Ca. T. magnifica cell, with a broken basal part revealing a tube-like morphology due to the large central vacuole and numerous spherical intracellular sulfur granules (a tardigrade is shown for scale)
Scientific classification
Domain: Bacteria
Kingdom: Pseudomonadati
Phylum: Pseudomonadota
Class: Gammaproteobacteria
Order: Thiotrichales
Family: Thiotrichaceae
Genus: Thiomargarita
Species:
T. magnifica
Binomial name
Thiomargarita magnifica
Volland et al., 2022

Candidatus Thiomargarita magnifica is a species of sulfur-oxidizing gammaproteobacteria, found growing underwater on detached leaves of red mangroves from the Guadeloupe archipelago in the Lesser Antilles. These filament-shaped bacteria are the largest known, with an average length of 1 cm, and some individuals reaching 2 centimetres (0.79 in), making the bacteria visible to humans by unaided eye.