Ref ID : 4910
Kenneth H. Nicholls; Form variation in Campascus minutus and a description of Campascus simcoei sp. n. (Testaceafilosea, Psammonobiotidae). Europ.J.Protistol. 39:103-112, 2003
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Two species of the poorly known testate rhizopod genus Campascus, C. minutus Penard and C. simcoei n. sp., are described statistically from populations in Ontario, Canada. The Ontario specimens of C. minutus revealed a considerably wider range in test size and shape than has been previously reported. LM micrographs of the test structure in C. minutus are provided for the first time and illustrate a test covered with small, variously shaped, tight-fitting particles of apparently exogenous origin. C. simcoei differs from the seven other previously described species by its bulbous shape with up to five posterior short "horns". Median test length, width, height and aperture diameter are 103, 57, 54, and 24.5 µm, respectively. Its test is covered with variously shaped, flat particles, similar to those found in C. minutus. The continued inclusion of the genus Campascus in the family Cyphoderiidae (a group defined by a test covered with endogenously-produced circular, reniform or elliptical scales) is untenable. It is proposed here to transfer the genus to the family Psammonobiotidae Gol, emend Meisterfeld, where it shares test characteristics with genera such as Alepiella, Edaphonobiotus and Micropsammella.