Scale Structure of Cochliopodium actinophorum (Auerbach, 1856) (Amoebozoa, Cochliopodiidae) and a New Diagnosis of this Species

Cochliopodium actinophorum (Auerbach, 1856) is one of the oldest and most frequently mentioned species of the genus, yet the structure of scales comprising tectum of these amoebae has never been described, and the strain previously used to re-define this species based on light microscopic characters was lost. A new strain identified as C. actinophorum using light microscopy was isolated recently, and molecular sequence data of this strain were published, yet without any morphological data. Here, the results of light and electron microscopic study of this strain are presented that confirm its identification as C. actinophorum and allow a proposal of a new diagnosis of this species thus linking morphology, scale ultrastructure and available gene sequence data. The newly isolated strain deposited with CCAP (accession number 1537/10) is designated as a neotype.