Cryptodifflugia leachi

Cryptodifflugia leachi
A free-living Cryptodifflugia leachi cell housed in its rigid shell, extending its rhizopods through the pseudostomal aperture.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Clade:	Amorphea
Phylum:	Amoebozoa
Class:	Tubulinea
Order:	Arcellinida
Family:	Cryptodifflugiidae
Genus:	Cryptodifflugia
Species:	C. leachi
Binomial name
Cryptodifflugia leachi Nicholls, 2006 [1]

Cryptodifflugia leachi is an aquatic species of testate amoebae discovered in 2006 in Canada, living in bottom sediment from wetlands at the base of the Niagara Escarpment. ^[2]

Description

Cryptodifflugia leachi is characterized by an oval, elliptical shell with a circular transverse section and a smooth surface. The shell ranks as one of the smallest out of the testate amoebae, with a length of 10–16  μm , a width of 8–12 μm and a very small pseudostomal aperture of 1.5–2.5 μm in diameter. ^{[2] [1]} Its pseudopodia are narrow and cylindrical, often reaching lengths up to 3 times that of the shell. Inside its cytoplasm there are often one or two large crystal-like refractive bodies in the anterior (closer to the aperture) region. When encysted, it develops an operculum, a thickened plug, and the cell membrane thickens behind it. ^[2]

• 
  A free-living C. leachi cell extending its rhizopods.
• 
  An encysted C. leachi cell with a developed operculum.

References

1. Bobrov, Anatoly; Mazei, Yuri (2017). "A review of testate amoeba genus Cryptodifflugia Penard, 1890 (Phryganellina: Cryptodifflugiidae) with a key to species". Zootaxa. 4282 (2): 292–308. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4282.2.4.
2. Nicholls, Kenneth H. (2006). "Cryptodifflugia leachi n. sp., a Minute New Testate Rhizopod Species (Rhizopoda: Phryganellina)". Acta Protozoologica. 45 (3): 295–299.