Flamella
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Flamella is a genus of fan-shaped amoebae belonging to the class Variosea within the Amoebozoa. It was described in 1926 by Asa Arthur Schaeffer.
Description
Flamella is a genus of naked flattened amoebae that appear fan-shaped, semicircular or diadem-shaped during locomotion. They develop a wide forward-facing hyaloplasm, from which blunt finger-shaped pseudopodia are produced, as well as trailing filaments facing backwards. Species of Flamella may form cysts that are double-walled and present unique structures, namely ostioles and operculae (crescent-shaped), in the cross sections of walls. Its species are similar to each other, but can be distinguished by the thickness and features of the cyst wall.
Taxonomy
Flamella was described in 1926 by Asa Arthur Schaeffer along with its type and, initially, only species F. magnifica. Schaeffer noted a unique irregular morphology, extremely variable during locomotion, and initially classified it in the family Hyalodiscidae (Placopodidae) together with Hyalodiscus (Placopus), a genus of vampyrellid amoebae with slender filopodia.
Molecular phylogenetic analyses eventually revealed that it belongs to the class Variosea within the Amoebozoa.
Flamella contains the following species:
- F. aegyptia Michel & Smirnov, 1999
- F. arnhemensis Kudryavtsev et al. 2009
- F. balnearia Kudryavtsev et al. 2009
- F. citrensis Bovee 1956
- F. fluviatilis Kudryavtsev et al. 2009
- F. lacustris Michel & Smirnov, 1999
- F. magnifica Schaeffer, 1926 — the type species.
- F. piscinae Brown & Walthall in Walthall et al. 2016
- F. tiara Fishbeck & Bovee 1993