The genus Sappinia: History, phylogeny and medical relevance

The genus Sappinia with the single species Sappinia pedata was established for an amoeba with two nuclei and pedicellate “cysts” by Dangeard in 1896. In 1912, Alexeieff transferred an also double nucleated, but apparently sexually reproducing amoeba to this genus as Sappinia diploidea, that had been described as Amoeba diploidea by Hartmann and Nägler in 1908. As the original isolates were lost, Michel and colleagues established a neotype for S. diploidea in 2006 and Brown and colleagues established a neotype for S. pedata in 2007. Molecular analyses have corroborated the differentiation between S. pedata and S. diploidea, however, the genus splits into more than two well separated clusters. Altogether, the genus Sappinia is now classified as a member of the Thecamoebidae and, moreover, as potentially pathogenic. In 2001, Gelman and colleagues reported a case of severe encephalitis in a non-immunocompromised young man caused by Sappinia.