Sappinia platani, Wylezich & Walochnik & Corsaro & Michel & Kudryavtsev, 2015

Wylezich, Claudia, Walochnik, Julia, Corsaro, Daniele, Michel, Rolf & Kudryavtsev, Alexander, 2015, Electron Microscopical Investigations of a New Species of the Genus Sappinia (Thecamoebidae, Amoebozoa), Sappinia platani sp. nov., Reveal a Dictyosome in this Genus, Acta Protozoologica 54 (1), pp. 45-51 : 50

Sappinia platani sp. nov. Wylezich, Walochnik, Corsaro, Michel et Kudryavtsev, 2015

Description: Locomotive forms oblong, of a lingulate morphotype; often irregular, length 57–76 µm (n = 10), breadth 23–38 µm (n = 10). Two nuclei in each trophic cell; nuclei vesicular, with large, central nucleoli. Cysts formed by two individual cells, 23–30 µm in diameter. Cell coat 60–120 nm thick, consisting of a loose layer of bent, filamentous structures. Standing forms as typical for S. pedata were extremely seldom observed.

Type material: The type strain PL-247 is deposited with CCAP under the accession number 1575/4. Type locality: Specimen of the type strain was collected at the bark of sycamore tree in Koblenz, Germany.

Type sequence: EU881943 (SSU rRNA gene, Wylezich et al. 2009).

Etymology: The specific epithet is derived from the sycamore tree Platanus occidentalis (Plantae, Angiospermae, Proteales ) from which the type strain was isolated.

Differential diagnosis: The species presented here differs from S. diploidea in having slightly larger locomotive forms and smaller cysts, presence of a dictyosome, and a different type of a cell coat. S. platani differs from both known species based in SSU rRNA gene sequences.

Remarks: The granuloplasm of the strain investigated here contains dictyosomes and endocytobionts of the genus Pedobacter (Bacteroidetes, Sphingobacteria).