title: Sphenoderiidae (fam. nov.), a new clade of euglyphid testate amoebae characterized by small, round scales surrounding the aperture.
abstract: Euglyphid testate amoebae are a highly conspicuous group of Cercozoa whose systematics is based mainly on the shape and ultrastructure of the shell. However, only a couple of species have been studied with molecular methods. As a consequence, there are still some genera whose classification remains uncertain. Amongst those are Sphenoderia and Trachelocorythion, two genera with diverging ecological requirements that share a collar composed of small scales around the aperture. We demonstrate here with a molecular and morphological approach that they are closely related, and propose a new family, Sphenoderiidae fam. nov. to group these species. Some species share almost similar morphology in spite of being genetically distantly related (Sphenoderia minuta and S. pseudominuta sp. nov.), underlining the importance of combining ultrastructural and morphological data when describing new species of protists. In addition, we describe here Sphenoderia valdiviana sp. nov., a new species isolated from Southern Chile temperate rainforests.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Soil Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Auriel P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Chatelain
authors.affiliation: Institut für Biologie II (Zoologie), Abt. Zellulare Neurobionik, Mies Van Der Rohe Strasse 15, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Meisterfeld
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Soil Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland; Present address: Laboratory of Microbiology, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roussel-Delif
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Soil Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Electronic address: enrique.lara@unine.ch.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lara
mesh_terms: D056907:Cercozoa / Q000145:classification* / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal
keywords: Cercozoa; Euglyphida; Rhizaria; cryptic diversity; phylogeny; ultrastructure.