Cochliopodium gallicum n. sp. (Himatismenida), an amoeba bearing unique scales, from cyanobacterial mats in the Camargue (France)

Cochliopodium gallicum n. sp., isolated from cyanobacterial mats in the Camargue (France) is the smallest marine species of Cochliopodium to date. Its unusual tectum consists of flat plate-shaped scales with honeycomb-like centres, underlain by a layer of filamentous structures connected to each other in the basal and apical parts. The tectum is very fine and can be easily lost under inappropriate EM fixation. In its light-microscopical features, this species resembles Ovalopodium carrikeri Sawyer, 1980, a himatismenid that is believed to possess a scaleless, fuzzy or hairy “glycocalyx”. We suggest that O. carrikeri might have been a similar species that lost scales under fixation. Our finding makes desirable a re-investigation of the genus Ovalopodium.