Planhoogenraadia wuchanica Qin, 2019

Bobrov, Anatoly, Qin, Yangmin & Payne, Richard J., 2019, A new testate amoebae species Planhoogenraadia wuchanica sp. nov. from subtropical forest soils in Wuhan, central China, Zootaxa 4550 (2), pp. 289-294 : 291

Planhoogenraadia wuchanica Qin, 2019

( Figs. 1–2 )

Comparison with similar species. C ompared to species with similar morphology ( P. bonetti and P. daurica ) Planhogenraadia wuchanica differs by smaller size ( Table 2). The ventral region of P. wuchanica is not as flat as other Planhoogenraadia species. The smaller shell length, narrower aperture and distinctive ‘cap’ structure make P. wuchanica morphologically distinct from the similar taxa P. acuta , P. alta and P. asturica .

Many protists exhibit phenotypic plasticity which can lead to morphological variability that could be mistakenly assumed to represent taxonomic difference ( Mulot et al. 2017). However, it is improbable that phenotypic plasticity is the case here. Diagnostic features such as the ‘cap’ are clearly-developed structures not present in other, related taxa, whereas phenotypic plasticity is typically associated with variability in properties such as length and volume ( Ogden & Hedley 1980; Arrieira et al. 2016; Mulot et al. 2017). The coefficients of variation we identify are small, further suggesting that phenotypic plasticity is unlikely. It is overwhelmingly probable that Planhogenraadia wuchanica is a previously-unrecorded species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Outline of Planhoogenraadia wuchanica sp. nov. (1A, 1B) in ventral and lateral views. (1–6 characters of the shell measured (see Table 1). Scale bar is 50 µm.

FIGURE 2. SEM images showing Planhoogenraadia wuchanica sp. nov. (A,D) lateral view; (B, E) the upper cap like structure; (C, F) dorsal view.). Scale bars: A, C, D, F, 50 µm, B, 30 µm, E, 10 µm.