The diversity of heterolobosean amoebae, important members of soil, marine and freshwater microeukaryote communities in the temperate zones, is greatly under-explored in high latitudes. To address this imbalance, we studied the diversity of this group of free-living amoebae in the Arctic and the Antarctic using culture dependent methods. Eighteen strain representatives of three heterolobosean genera, Allovahlkampfia Walochnik et Mulec, 2009 (1 strain), Vahlkampfia Chatton et Lalung-Bonnaier, 1912 (2) and Naegleria Alexeieff, 1912 (15) were isolated from 179 samples of wet soil and fresh water with sediments collected in 6 localities. The Allovahkampfia strain is the first representative of the genus from the Antarctic; 14 strains (7 from the Arctic, 7 from the Antarctic) of the highly represented genus Naegleria complete the 'polar' cluster of five Naegleria species previously known from the Arctic and Sub-Antarctic regions, whereas one strain enriches the 'dobsoni' cluster of Naegleria strains of diverse origin. Present isolations of Naegleria polarisDe Jonckheere, 2006 from Svalbard, in the Arctic and Vega Island, in the Antarctic and N. neopolarisDe Jonckheere, 2006 from Svalbard and Greenland in the Arctic, and James Ross Island, the Antarctic demonstrate their bipolar distribution, which in free-living amoebae has so far only been known for Vermistella Morand et Anderson, 2007.
Keywords: Antarctic; Arctic; Heterolobosea; Molecular taxonomy; Tetramitia.
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