Conicocassis pontigulasiformis (Beyens et al., 1986) Nasser and Anderson, 2015

Diagnosis: The shells are divided in a perfectly spherical body with an usually small circular aperture and a large, more or less funnel-like visor. The spherical part has a darker color than the visor; both parts are composed of granular organic cement, ornamented with some mineral grains and diatom frustules; the wall of the visor is relatively thin, with an outward curved veil. No living specimens were observed.

Dimensions: My measurements: Spherical chamber 60-66 µm in diameter (n=18)

Ecology: Peat bogs in het Hol and Laegieskamp, the Netherlands, Rotes Wasser, Germany and Tirol, Austria.

Remarks: This characteristic species resembles in structure Centropyxis species, but differs from that genus in the smooth spherical body and the large pronounced funnel-like conical visor.
I have found this species in the Netherlands in the seventies (see my drawings below) and in 2012, in samples from Tirol, Austria, where it also has been found by Angie Opitz (pers. comm.). She found living individuals. I found many specimens in a sample from the peatland area Rotes Wasser in Germany, sampled by Steffen Clauss.
The shells on this page have been photographed from material which has been collected in peat bogs in Tirol, Austria. The drawings are from material from the Netherlands.
The identity of these findings with C. pontigulasiformis as described by Beyens, Chardez and De Bock (1986) has been confirmed by Louis Beyens (pers. comm.)

.

The photomicrographs below have been made by Angie Opitz, Tirol, Austria.