Vexillifera

This genus is both  marine and freshwater.  Some species look fairly similar to Acanthamoeba but the filopodia are more exaggerated and Vexillifera lack cysts. Another difference apparent at the E.M. level is that Vexillifera has a glycocalyx that is much more developed than Acanthamoeba, and is especially organised in some marine species where hexagonal glycostyles are evident. In one freshwater species (V.granatensis), gycostyles are "T" shaped in cross section possibly resembling thumb tacks on the cell surface.  Many different species of Vexillifera have been named but only two are available for further work.

   The Vexillifera are important commercially as they have been found to cause

Vexillifera at the Protist Information Server

V. anapes   (Bovee, 1985). 

V. arionoides (Bovee, 1985)

V. armata (Page, 1979)

V. aurea (Schaeffer 1926)

V. bacillipedes (Page 1969)

V. browni (Sawyer, 1975)

V. displacata (Bovee, 1985)

V. filopodia (Bovee, 1985)

V. granatensis (Mascaro et al, 1985)

V. lemani (Page 1976)

V. minuta (Bovee, 1985)

V. minutissima (Bovee & Sawyer, 1979)  Identified as occurring regularly in sediments in shallow lagoons in the Southern Baltic sea. (Garstecki & Arndt, 2000).

V. ottoi (Sawyer, 1975)

V. subula (Bovee, 1985)

V. telma (Bovee, 1985)

V. telmathalassa (Bovee, 1956)

V. variabilis (Bovee, 1985)

References

Bovee, E.C. (1956). "Some observations on a marine amoeba of intertidal zones, Vexillifera telmathalassa n. sp." J.Protozool. 3: 155-158.

Bovee, E.C. (1985). "The lobose amebas. III. Descriptions of nine new conopodous amebas of the genus Vexillifera Schaeffer, 1926, emd.Bovee, 1951, 1970, with comments on the genus." Arch.Protistenk. 129: 101-118.

Dykova, I., Lom, J., Machackova, B. & Peckova, H. (1998). "Vexillifera expectata sp. n. and other non-encysting amoebae isolated from organs of freshwater fish." Folia Parasitologica 45(1): 17-26.

Garstecki, T. and Arndt, H. (2000)."Seasonal abundances and community structure of benthic Rhizopods in shallow lagoons of the Southern Baltic seas." Eur.J.Protozool. 36: 103-115.

Page, F.C. (1979). "Vexillifera armata N. Sp. (Gymnamoebia, paramoebidae), an estuarine amoeba with distinctive surface structures and trichocyst-like bodies. " Protistologica 15(1): 111-112.

Page, F.C. (1983) "Marine gymnamoebae". Inst.Terr.Ecol. NERC.

Pernin, P. & Pussard, M. (1979). "Mitose et identification de Vexillifera bacillipedes Page 1969 (Paramoebidae, amoebida)." Protistologica 15(3): 365-368.

Mascaro, M.L., Osuna, A. & Mascaro, C. (1985). "Vexillifera granatensis N.sp. (Gymnamoebia, paramoebidae), a new amoeba from fresh water. Protistologica 21(4): 467-471.

Sawyer, T.K., Ghittino, P., Andruetto, S., Pernin, P. & Pussard, M. (1978). "Vexillifera bacillipedes Page, 1969, an amphizoic amoeba of hatchery rainbow -trout in Italy." Trans.amer.micros.soc. 97: 596-600.