Broad sampling of monothalamids (Rhizaria, Foraminifera) gives further insight into diversity of non-marine Foraminifera

Eur J Protistol. 2021 Feb:77:125744. doi: 10.1016/j.ejop.2020.125744. Epub 2020 Oct 14.

Abstract

Non-marine foraminifera are among the least known groups of protists and only a handful of species have been described since the 19th century. We collected one naked and five morphologically almost identical organic-walled monothalamid species from freshwater and terrestrial environments from Germany and Austria. One of the species was identified as Lieberkuehnia wageneriClaparède and Lachmann, 1859. As its original description is ambiguous and its type specimen has been lost, a neotype is proposed. We describe four new organic-walled monothalamous foraminifera and a novel Reticulomyxa species both morphologically and genetically. Analyses of molecular data of the different isolates revealed that they are distributed across six different clades. Two new genera, Claparedellus gen. nov. and Velamentofex gen. nov., and five new monothalamous families, Lacogromiidae fam. nov., Limnogromiidae fam. nov., Lieberkuehniidae fam. nov., Edaphoallogromiidae fam. nov. and Velamentofexidae fam. nov., are established.

Keywords: Freshwater; Lieberkuehnia; Monothalamid; Organic-walled; Phylogeny; Soil.

MeSH terms

  • Austria
  • Biodiversity*
  • DNA, Protozoan / genetics
  • DNA, Ribosomal / genetics
  • Foraminifera / classification*
  • Foraminifera / cytology
  • Foraminifera / genetics
  • Fresh Water / parasitology*
  • Germany
  • Phylogeny
  • Soil / parasitology
  • Species Specificity

Substances

  • DNA, Protozoan
  • DNA, Ribosomal
  • Soil