DOI

Amoebae of the order Vannellida (Amoebozoa, Discosea) have a fairly recognizable spatulate, fan-shaped or semi-circular outlines and a wide area of the frontal hyaloplasm. They can be easily distinguished from the other groups of lobose amoebae even by the light microscopy. The dorsal side of these amoebae is usually smooth and rarely bears ridges or folds, which are never numerous or regular. We have isolated an unusual species of vannellid amoebae, called Vannella primoblina n. sp. from the terrestrial substrate. It has well-developed dorsal relief consisting of regularly appearing folds and ridges. This amoeba superficially resembles members of the genus Thecamoeba. However, molecular analysis showed that this strain belongs to the genus Vannella. This finding indicates that dorsal folds may also be a characteristic of some species of vannellid amoebae and probably are a functional detail of the cell morphology rather than the apomorphy of Thecamoebida lineage. Overall outlines of the cell and the presence of the expanded frontal hyaline area remains the most reliable characters used to differentiate vannellid amoebae from other gymnamoebae lineages.
Original languageEnglish
Article number125757
JournalEuropean Journal of Protistology
Volume77
Early online date21 Nov 2020
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2021

    Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology

    Research areas

  • Amoebozoa, Morphology, Phylogeny, Systematics, Vannella

ID: 61332293