Colpidium colpoda are free-living ciliates commonly found in many freshwater environments including streams, rivers, lakes and ponds across the world.

[2] It was more thoroughly described by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in his two volume publication Die Infusionsthierchen als vollkommene Organismen (which roughly translates to “The Infusoria as Perfect Organisms”) in 1838.

C. colpoda reproduces asexually every 4–6 hours,[5] with variation in division rates arising from environmental conditions and the identity of the available bacterial food source.

There is a large body of scientific literature on the T. thermophila genome as a representative of the Alveolates, a major evolutionary branch of eukaryotes that includes all ciliates, dinoflagellates and apicomplexans.

In 2006, the full genome of the T. thermophila macronucleus was sequenced[14] Because Colpidium colpoda feeds on bacteria, this species is typically found in heavily polluted freshwater habitats.