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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 7444

Thomas K. Sawyer, Thomas A. Nerad, Lawrence B. Cahoon, and Janice E. Nearhoof; Learamoeba waccamawensis, N. G., N. Sp. (Heterolobosea: Vahlkampfiidae), a New Temperature-Tolerant Cyst-Forming Soil Amoeba. J.Eukaryot.Microbiol. 45(3):260-264, 1998

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Soil from a roadside ditch at Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, was tested for cyst-forming free-living amoebae, and water from the same ditch was tested for fecal coliform bacteria. Soil samples incubated at room temperature (21-23 degrees C) yielded Acanthamoeba polyphaga, Amoeba sp., Hyperamoeba sp., Mayorella penardi, Naegleria gruberi, Naegleria minor, and unidentified ciliates, testaeans and slime molds. Incubation at 37-39 degrees C yielded Acanthamoeba jacobsi, Platyamoeba schaefferi, and a new amoeba to be described herein. Fecal contamination of the ditch was confirmed by a direct membrane filtration technique that yielded a mean of 1,410+/-134 bacteria/ml. The new amoeba is assigned to the class Heterolobosea Page & Blanton, 1985 on the basis of promitotic nuclear division, and flagellated stage with a cytostome as seen in the genus Tetramitus. Amoebae studied in hanging drop preparations were flattened and irregular as described for the genus Stachyamoeba in the family Gruberellidae but changed to a lobose cylindrical form as described for species of Vahlkampfia in the family Vahlkampfiidae. A new genus and species, Learamoeba waccamawensis, is proposed for the amoeba described herein.