Edaphoallogromia australica
| Edaphoallogromia australica | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Edaphoallogromia | ||||||||||||
| Meisterfeld, Holzmann & Pawlowski, 2001 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Edaphoallogromia australica | ||||||||||||
| Meisterfeld , Holzmann & Pawlowski , 2001 |
Edaphoallogromia australica is a unicellular foraminifera species and the only member of its genus fromthe Allogromiidae family . The species first described in 2001 is one of the very few species of foraminifera that do not live in water but in the ground.
features
The animals have a membranous and flexible, not rigid outer skin. They are egg-shaped to rounded and have a diameter of 70 to 150 (rarely 48 to 230) micrometers . The aperture, which is difficult to see, is located in a depression in the outer skin, and there are usually one to four contractile vacuoles in its vicinity . The cells have around thirty 5 to 6.8 micrometer-sized nuclei , under whose membrane chromatin collects. The cytoplasm is granular and contains numerous food vacuoles . The pseudopod occur from an extremely truncated cone indicate their braid may have a diameter of up to 500 microns, the interior has a so-called "entosolenische tube" ( "entosolenian tube" ) to a short tube which continues the aperture to the inside.
The cysts , measuring between 55 and 120 micrometers, have a 2 to 3.5 micrometer thick, brownish cell wall that darkens further with age; the plasma contains 2 to 2.5 micrometers large granules and light-refracting crystals. The existence of such cysts is unusual, as it indicates fluctuating humidity conditions that are otherwise absent in the habitats of the order.
Way of life
The animals were collected in the humus of a eucalyptus forest near Millstream Falls in northern Queensland .
The life cycle is not fully known. Occasionally, dumbbell-shaped cells could be observed with pseudopod plexuses extending from the opposite ends; this is seen as an indication of possible cell division . So far there is no evidence of sexual reproduction or schizogony .
Systematics
The species was first described in 2001 by Ralf Meisterfeld , Maria Holzmann and Jan Pawlowski . Molecular genetic studies were able to demonstrate the proximity of the species to the genus Allogromia , so that it could be assigned to the Allogromiidae family without any doubt.
proof
- Ralf Meisterfeld, Maria Holzmann, Jan Pawlowski: Morphological and Molecular Characterization of a New Terrestrial Allogromiid Species: Edaphoallogromia australica gen. Et spec. nov. (Foraminifera) from Northern Queensland (Australia) In: Protist, 152: 3, 2001, pp. 185-192