Schoutedamoeba minuta Van Wichelen & Vanormelingen sp. n., 2016

Van Wichelen, Jeroen, D’Hondt, Sofie, Claeys, Myriam, Vyverman, Wim, Berney, Cédric, Bass, David & Vanormelingen, Pieter, 2016, A Hotspot of Amoebae Diversity: 8 New Naked Amoebae Associated with the Planktonic Bloom-forming Cyanobacterium Microcystis, Acta Protozoologica 55 (2), pp. 61-87 : 83

Schoutedamoeba minuta Van Wichelen & Vanormelingen sp. n.

Diagnosis: Locomotive amoebae limax-shaped, 12– 22 µm long and 4–7 µm (6) wide anteriorly displaying a short-lived small hyaline cap. A few small adhesive uroidal filaments present occasionally. Vesicular nucleus about 2 µm in diameter with one centrally located nucleolus. Usually one small contractile vacuole posteriorly. The cytoplasm always contain several small, refractive granules. Floating form spherical, about 10 µm in diameter with radially several small hyaline lobes. No cyst stage or aggregation observed.

Feeding behavior: Microcystis cells never observed inside food vacuoles. It probably feeds on bacteria inside the mucilage matrix of Microcystis colonies.

Type material: Strain A 1P5 ZHB is available from the NIES Microbial Culture Collection (NIES-3727). The 18S rDNA GenBank accession number is KP719190 .

Type locality: Isolated from a Microcystis bloom sample from a fishpond in Zonhoven ( Belgium) (Table 1). Morphological similar amoebae were found occasionally in other Microcystis bloom samples, e.g. from an urban pond in Brugge (08/09/2015).

Etymology: minuta Lat. , minute, referring to its small cell size.

Differential diagnosis: Morphologically probably indistinguishable from small members of the Hartmannellidae and due to its eruptive-like movements also from small Vahlkampfiidae (Heterolobosea) .