Hyalosphenia minuta Cash, 1892

Diagnosis: Shell small, exceedingly transparent, colorless, without any pores, but finely granulated, chitinous; in front, view ovoid, from the arched fundus tapering evenly to the truncated aperture, which is rounded at the corners; strongly compressed, but without any indication of a broad rounded keel; pseudostome, in narrow lateral view, forming a slight notch. Plasma colourless, attached to the test usually by six or eight attenuated filaments; nucleus with central nucleolus which contains some spheres; pseudopodia varying in number and form, sometimes represented by a single lobe, which is lingulate and nearly as long as the test extending outwards.

Dimensions: Cash (1891): Length 35-40 µm. My measurement: Length 37-43 µm (n=7).

Ecology: In Sphagnum bogs and wet green mosses. I found one specimen in Sphagnum from Tirol, Austria, collected by Angie Opitz (2015), and several specimens in material of a Mongolian fen (2024).

Geographical distribution: Africa, Europe, North, Central and South America, Asia (Mongolia).

Remarks: This species differs from H. cuneata by its smaller size, its broader pseudostome, the structure of the nucleus and a finely granulated surface of the shell. It differs from H. punctata in size and structure of the nucleus and shell.