Rhizamoeba
Genus of marine lobose amoebae
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rhizamoeba is a small genus of free-living marine naked lobose amoebae in the monotypic family Rhizamoebidae[1] in the order Leptomyxida.[2][3] It is most closely related to Leptomyxa and Flabellula, and some species have been moved to Leptomyxa due to molecular data.[1]
| Rhizamoeba | |
|---|---|
| |
| Different monopodial shapes of Rhizamoeba (clockwise from top left): worm-like, static, flattened, clavate. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Phylum: | Amoebozoa |
| Class: | Tubulinea |
| Order: | Leptomyxida |
| Family: | Rhizamoebidae |
| Genus: | Rhizamoeba Page 1972 em. Smirnov et al. 2016 |
| Type species | |
| Rhizamoeba polyura Page 1972 | |
| Species | |
Morphology
Classification
The paraphyly of the genus caused the transfer of two previously rhizamoeban species into Leptomyxa: R. australiensis and R. neglecta. As a result, only 3 species are currently confirmed as Rhizamoeba:[1]
- Rhizamoeba saxonica Page 1974
- Rhizamoeba polyura Page 1972
- Rhizamoeba matisi Mrva in Smirnov et al. 2017
Other possible species are not yet confirmed due to lack of published data or poor documentation.[1] Some of these are: R. schnepfii Kühn 1996/97 (considered nomen dubium since it has not been deposited to any culture collection), Trichamoeba caerulea Schaeffer 1926 and Trichamoeba clava Schaeffer 1926 (both transferred to Rhizamoeba in 1980[4] but poorly documented), Amoeba clavarioides Penard 1902 (identified as R. clavarioides through light microscopy[5]), Polychaos timidum Bovee 1972 (identified as R. timidum through light microscopy[6]), etc.
