An interesting group of testate amoebae is the genus Difflugia. There have been described hundreds of species, but the question is: how many of them are true species? Most descriptions are inaccurate of just based on one single test. Probably this group consists of several genera. Only DNA sequencing can help here. One of my projects is to make a visual map of all known species. It’s one of the most difficult taxa to identify.
C. halophila, after Bonnet, 1959 Centropyxis halophila Bonnet, 1959 Diagnosis: Shell with ovoid sole, extended by a rather strongly covering visor and not clearly separated
Euglypha cuspidata Euglypha cuspidata Bonnet, 1959 Diagnosis: Shell small, very transparent, ovoid, in lateral view very elliptical, with sharp edges. Pseudostome small, elliptical, surrounded by a
Difflugia levanderi , after Playfair, 1918 Difflugia levanderi Playfair, 1918 Diagnosis: Test lance-oblong or mitriform (shaped like a bishop’s miter), short and broad, fundus shaped
D. angelica after Gauthier-Lièvre et Thomas, 1960 Difflugia angelica Gauthier-Lièvre et Thomas, 1960 Diagnosis: Test spherical, slightly mammillated. Pseudostome regularly lobed like a star with
fgdfgdfgfgfgfg fgdfgfd fg dfgfd gfdg fdg C. lunaristoma – from Coûteaux et Chardez, 1981 fdgdfgdfgfdgfgdfgfgf fgdgfdgfd gfdg dfgdf C. lunaristoma – from Coûteaux et Chardez,
F. bipilata, arrows point to the struts Frenopyxis bipilata (Baković, Siemensma, Baković and Rubinić, 2019) comb. n. Diagnosis: In dorsal view, the test is rounded