Family Arcellidae Ehrenberg 1830 *)
Diagnosis: Lobose testate amoebae with a shell composed of granular chitinoid elements, giving the shell a finely granular appearance. Pseudostome distinct and round.
Genus Arcella
Aperture not surrounded by pores and smaller than half the shell diameter; two or more vesicular nuclei.
Genus Galeripora
Aperture surrounded by pores and smaller than half the shell diameter; two or more vesicular nuclei.
Genus Antarcella
Differs from Arcella by having a single ovular nucleus
*) Taxonomic note on the authorship of Arcellidae.
The family-group name Arcellidae is frequently attributed to Ehrenberg, 1843, following secondary sources, although no evidence exists that Ehrenberg ever used the family-group name Arcellidae (‑idae) in any of his 1843 publications. The earliest demonstrable use of the family name in a formal taxonomic sense appears to be that of Schulze (1877), who introduced Arcellidae as one of four families in his Rhizopodenstudien VI.
However, under the ICZN Code, family‑group names are automatically coordinated with the names of their type genera (ICZN Arts. 35.5, 36). Because the type genus Arcella was validly established by Ehrenberg in 1830, the authorship of all family‑group names based on Arcella must likewise be attributed to Ehrenberg, 1830, regardless of who first introduced the family‑group name at that rank.
Thus, although Arcellidae was probably first implemented as a family by Schulze (1877), its correct authorship, in the nomenclatural sense of the ICZN, is Arcellidae Ehrenberg, 1830.