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Astramoeba |
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updated 11/8/02 |
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A very old genus,
raised by Vejdovsky in 1881 (Schaeffer,
1926), the type species is A. radiosa
but since has been reclassified on numerous occasions (see for Schaeffer,
1926 for a discussion of the more ancient
literature). Page discussed A. torrei in the context of Mayorella,
yet unlike any other Mayorella, A. torrei produces
cysts. There does not seem to be a uniting feature of the amoebae
described in the genus Astramoeba, save perhaps that they produce
long pointed pseupods but then so do many others.
Described
species:-
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A.
flagellipodia
(Schaeffer,
1926). Freshwater. c50mm
in length while in locomotion. Has fewer than 10 pseudopods some of
which are described as having characteristics between a flagella and a
normal pseudopod. No E.M. study has been carried out and as far as
I know, no cultures of this amoeba presently exit, so the cytoskeletal
components of these structures are unknown. The description given
by Scheaffer seems superficially to resemble the genus Flagellipodium.
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A. radiosa
Described by several workers but its not certain if they were looking at
the same amoeba.
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A. stella
(Schaeffer,
1926). Freshwater. 25-50mm
in diameter with many blunt cylindrical pseudopods projecting at all
directions. Locomotion uncertain and slow.
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| References:-
Jahn, T.L. & Jahn, F.L. (1949). "How
to know the Protozoa". Iowa, Wm.C.Brown Publ.
Schaeffer, A. (1926) "Taxonomy of
the amebas." Pap.Dept.Mar.Biol.Carnegie Institut. Wash. Vol
XXIV, 1-116.
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