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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Parmulina

Parmulina Penard, 1902 (ref. ID; 3693 original paper)

[ref. ID; 1618]
Test ovoid, chitinoid with foreign bodies; aperture may be closed; a single nucleus; one or more contractile vacuoles; fresh water. (ref. ID; 1618)

[ref. ID; 1923]
Shell membrane simple, and hyaline or yellowish. Aperture elongate. One species. (ref. ID; 1923)
  1. Parmulina cyathus Penard, 1902 (ref. ID; 3693 original paper) reported year? (ref. ID; 1618, 1923, 2420, 3595)
  2. Parmulina louisi Charedez & Beyens, 1988 (ref. ID; 4763 original paper)
  3. Parmulina obtecta (Gruber) (ref. ID; 5624) or (Gruber) Penard, 1902 (ref. ID; 3693 redescribed paper)
    Syn; Amoeba obtecta Gruber (ref. ID; 3693)

Parmulina cyathus Penard, 1902 (ref. ID; 3693 original paper) reported year? (ref. ID; 1618, 1923, 2420, 3595)

Descriptions

Test small, flexible; ovoid in aperture view, semicircular in profile; aperture a long, narrow slit when test is closed, but circular or elliptical when opened; in moss. (ref. ID; 1618)
Body naviculoid with a thick membrane agglutining foreign particles. Habitat mosses. (ref. ID; 1923)

Measurements

40-55 um long. (ref. ID; 1618)
Diameter 40-60 um. (ref. ID; 1923)

Parmulina louisi Charedez & Beyens, 1988 (ref. ID; 4763 original paper)

Descriptions

The shell is transparent, micro-perforate, +/- soft with a somewhat dark, brownish-green tone. Shape almost hemispherical in lateral view. The chitinoid shell sometimes has a felty covering of organic particles. Large circular aperture, truncated at right angles, and surrounded by a well-developed rim, mostly more darkly coloured than the other parts. Cytoplasm limpid, enclosing a spherical nucleus of 6.5-7 um. Encystment normal, cyst globular with a distinct cyst membrane, +/- smooth or irregularly toothed. In general, only a few broad, stumpy pseudopodia are evident; sometimes these were observed extending on the outer surface of the shell. (ref. ID; 4763)

Comments

This new species resembles Difflugia subaequalis Penard, but can clearly be distinguished by the structure of the shell and smaller dimensions. The nature of the shell approaches that of Parmulina obtecta Gruber, from which it is easily differentiated by the shape of the aperture and more particularly by the conspicuous rim. This rim gives the otherwise +/- soft shell a more rigid character, which is missing in Gruber's species. Parmulina obtecta Gruber has a thin and flexible rim, able to retract and close the aperture. (ref. ID; 4763)

Etymology

This species is described to Prof. em. Dr. Armand Louis, who was the Head of the phytohydrobiological Laboratory at the University of Leuven (Belgium). (ref. ID; 4763)

Type locality

Parmulina louisi sp. nov. seems to be a moss-dwelling organism. (ref. ID; 4763)

Measurements

Length of shell 46-50: breadth of shell 44-50: diameter of aperture 28-30 um (n=15). (ref. ID; 4763)