Padaungiella lageniformis Penard, 1890

Diagnosis: Body of shell broad, ellipsoid, prolonged into a tubular neck. Large elliptic or polygonal rounded plates, sometimes intermixed with small polygonal scales.

Dimensions: According to Penard (1890): Shell length 95—145 µm. My measurements: Length 103—125 µm.

Ecology: Wet Sphagnum and other mosses, rather minerotrophic (i.e., poor fen).

Geographical distribution: Likely cosmopolitan.

References: Kosakyan, A., Meisterfeld, R., Lara, E., Duckert, C., Mitchell, E., 2025. A taxonomic monograph of hyalospheniid testate amoebae. Amoebozoa: Arcellinida: Hyalospheniformes, Mémoire XIV. Éditions Alphil-Presses universitaires suisses, Neuchâtel.

Shell structure of P. lageniformis (l) and shell structure of Trinema enchelys present in the same sample.

This shell of P. lageniformis was found in a moss sample from Ecuador. It had obviously the same structure as shells of Trinema enchelys, which were present in the same sample. It is well known that these species get their xenosomes from preyed testaceans, but it is remarkable that the Trinema-structure was copied.

P. lageniformis, 103 µm (L) and N. penardiana, 115 µm, both from moss on a rock near Ayl, Germany.

Padaungiella lageniformis, preying on Euglypha species; arrow points to a filopodium of the Euglypha, trying to escape.

In the same sample a specimen ingesting an algae (shell = 115 µm).

Padaungiella lageniformis, 118 µm, the Netherlands