Planhoogenraadia wuchanica, Bobrov & Qin & Payne, 2019

Bobrov, Anatoly, Qin, Yangmin & Payne, Richard J., 2019, A new testate amoebae species Planhoogenraadia wuchanica sp. nov. from subtropical forest soils in Wuhan, central China, Zootaxa 4550 (2), pp. 289-294 : 290-291

Description of Planhoogenraadia wuchanica sp. nov.

Description. The shell of this species is elongate-elliptical with slight constriction in the aperture region. The shell is grey and consists of mineral particles of variable size embedded in organic cement. The dorsal side of the shell is evenly convex. The transition from the posterior of the shell to the ventral side is a circular arc without any angularity.

The aperture is narrow-elliptical, open on the ventral side. The upper lip of the aperture is extended forming a cap-like structure. This cap-like structure extends several microns (mean=22 µm) beyond the aperture and protrudes beyond the ventral surface of the shell terminating in a blunt lip. The height and the depth of the aperture are variable (from 10 to 38 µm). Coefficients of variation (CV) of shell length and height are less than 10% ( Table 1), and CV values for most characteristics are lower than 15%, thus P. wuchanica can be considered a sizemonomorphic species.

Measurements. The shell is large, with a mean length of 123 ± 8.3 µm, and mean width of 79 ± 9.5 µm. The shell is widest towards the center of the shell (mean=79 µm).

Habitat. Soil of subtropical forest with dominated by Cinnamomum camphora (camphor tree) and the grass Deyeuxia langsdorffii .

Etymology. The species name ‘ wuchanica ’ is in reference to the region ‘Wuchang’ in Wuhan City where the species was firstly observed.

Type specimens. The holotype specimens of Planhoogenraadia wuchanica on which morphometric analyses were based are stored at China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China (reference YJS17-1).

Type locality. The type locality of the new species is surface soil in Cinnamomum camphora dominated subtopic forest in the Nanwangshan and Yujiashan mountains, both are near to Lake Donghu ( Qin et al. 2013a) and adjacent to the campus of China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, central China .

Ecology. Individuals described here were located in subtopical soils in forest dominated by Cinnamomum camphora and Deyeuxia langsdorffii . This habitat is similar to known habitats of other taxa in the genus Planhoogenraadia , which are abundant in subtropical and wet forest soils ( Table 2).

Geographical distribution. South central China.