Genus “Christinellula” (working title)

Diagnosis: At first glance it looks like a Cochliopodium species, but in phase contrast it shows a different structure of the tectum. In normal locomotion, which is a little faster than that of Cochliopodium. In dorsal view it has a circular to oval veil and is about 12-14 µ in diameter. The cell body is more or less globular and about 12 µm high. In lateral view it resembles the Greek letter omega Ω. The tectum is covered with a large number of oval plate scales which are c. 1.8 µm long, measured light microscopically, and 1.15 – 2.3 µm, measured in SEM. The scales on top of the cell body are larger then those on the veil.

Ecology: the precise environmental conditions are not clear. The first time I found this amoeboid in several numbers in a sample from the river Saar near Saarburg, Germany, 2014. Two weeks later I found this species in a sample from Crailoo, one of my favorite locations. In 2015 I also found it in a clean ditch near Montfoort, the Netherlands. In July 2015 I found it in a sample which I took from a small stream in Bretagne, France. After that I have found it in many more places, e.g. a mountain stream in Argentina and the Wannsee in Berlin. I is quite common in mesotrophic water types, but you can only detect it in wet mounts kept for some days in a moist chamber.
Its taxonomic position is unclear.