Leptomyxa Explained

Leptomyxa is a free-living genus of lobose naked multinucleate amoebae in the order Leptomyxida that inhabits freshwater, soil and mosses. It is very closely related to the genus Rhizamoeba, and some species have been moved between the two genera due to molecular data.

Description

Members of this genus have loboreticulopodia: wide and smooth cytoplasmic projections (like lobopodia) that can also connect to each other to form a net-like structure (like reticulopodia).They differ from Rhizamoeba not only on a molecular level but also in their morphology: each Leptomyxa cell has usually up to hundreds of nuclei, while Rhizamoeba cells contain between one and up to dozens of nuclei, and the organization of the cell is plasmodial among Leptomyxa while monopodial among Rhizamoeba.

Classification

As of 2017, nine species belong to this genus.^[1] ^[2] ^[3]

Leptomyxa ambigua
Leptomyxa arborea
Leptomyxa australiensis
Leptomyxa flabellata
Leptomyxa fragilis
Leptomyxa neglecta
Leptomyxa reticulata (type species)
Leptomyxa valladaresi
Leptomyxa variabilis

Notes and References

Alexey . Smirnov. Elena . Nassonova. Stefan . Geisen. Michael . Bonkowski. Alexander. Kudryavtsev. Cedric . Berney. Anna . Glotova. Natalya . Bondarenko. Iva . Dyková. Martin . Mrva. Jose . Fahrni. Jan . Pawlowski. Phylogeny and Systematics of Leptomyxid Amoebae (Amoebozoa, Tubulinea, Leptomyxida). Protist. 168. 2. 2017. 220–252. 1434-4610. 10.1016/j.protis.2016.10.006. 28343121 .
Alvaro De Obeso Fernandez . Del Valle. Jacob . Lorenzo-Morales. Sutherland K. . Maciver. Leptomyxa valladaresi n. sp. (Amoebozoa, Tubulinea, Leptomyxida), from Mount Teide, Tenerife, Spain. Experimental Parasitology. 183. 2017. 85–91. 0014-4894. 10.1016/j.exppara.2017.09.017. 29042273 . 20.500.11820/388d40ed-c270-401e-8430-5fdf722b0b67 . 8368259 . free.
Alexey . Smirnov. Fine structure of Leptomyxa ambigua n. sp. CCAP 1546/2 strain, formerly known as "Rhizamoeba flabellata" (Amoebozoa, Tubulinea, Leptomyxida). European Journal of Protistology. 62. 2018. 95–100. 0932-4739. 10.1016/j.ejop.2017.12.001. 29316480 .