Difflugia lismorensis
Difflugia lismorensis, after Gauthier-Lièvre and Thomas, 1958

Difflugia lismorensis Playfair, 1917

Diagnosis: Shell broadly ovate or subglobose, composed of coarse flints closely disposed, or of flat plates of irregular shape. Dome broadly rounded, without processes. Pseudostome 6-lobed, without any distinct, regular edging of flints or plates, lobes very deep, ovate, narrowed within, rounded or somewhat flattened behind, the angles between the lobes thrust forward into the orifice as broad, blunt processes, leaving only a clear space equal to about one-third of the diameter of the orifice. The tips of these processes are chitinous, and so darkened that, if they are composed of small flints or plates, the latter cannot be seen (after Playfair, 1917).

Dimensions: Playfair (1917): Shell length 115-150 µm; width 100-133 µm; pseudostome 25-28 µm.

Habitat: Freshwater, Lismore, Australia (Playfair, 1917); Africa (Gauthier-Lièvre and Thomas, 1958).

Remarks: Gauthier-Lièvre and Thomas (1958) distinguish some subspecies: var. quinqelobata and var. elongata.
I found this species in 1978 in a ditch in Ankeveen, the Netherlands, but it was only a single test and much smaller.

Difflugia cf lismorensis, 84 µm – Netherlands
Ferry Siemensma, created February 28, 2019; last modified November 29, 2024
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