Pompholyxophrys punicea, 24 µm
Genus Pompholyxophrys Archer, 1869
Diagnosis: Medium-sized amoebae, typically with a spherical or near spherical body coated with numerous delicate and perforated siliceous perles; filopodia emerge through the layer of perles. Cells feed on algae and detritus and have been reported from freshwater habitats.
Literature: Page and Siemensma (1991); Patterson (1985); Rainer (1968), Roijackers and Siemensma, 1988.
Key to the species:
| 1 | Perles spherical | 2 |
| – | Perles not spherical | 3 |
| 2 | Perles different in size, 1-6 µm, dried perles regular in outline | P. punicea |
| – | Perles of the same size, up to 1.2 µm; dried perles irregular in outline | P. exigua |
| 3 | Perles long, bone-shaped or rod-shaped | P. ossea |
| – | Perles otherwise shaped | 4 |
| 4 | Perles ovoid, not strongly compressed | P. ovuligera |
| – | Perles strongly compressed, flattened or discoid | 5 |
| 5 | Perles flattened, in outline circular or elliptical | P. degrooti |
| – | Perles discoid, with slightly convex sides | 6 |
| 6 | Dried perles slightly torn, with a central hole; no pillars inside | P. stammeri |
| – | Dried perles usually not deformed, sometimes with a small central hole; with pillars | P. stellata |
Pompholyxophrys punicea, with branched filopodium