Genus Janickina Chatton, 1953

Amoebozoan parasites of arrow-worms (Chaetognatha). Marine.

Janickina pigmentifera (Grassi, 1881) has a limax locomotive form and contains the intracellular symbiont, Perkinsela amoebae, surrounded by a layer of pigment granules.
The molecular phylogenetic analyses of 18S rRNA gene placed J. pigmentifera within the genus Neoparamoeba, a taxon also characterized by the presence of a symbiont, known as Perkinsela amoebae-like organism (PLO). In contrast to Janickina, typical members of Paramoebidae (Neoparamoeba and Paramoeba) have a flattened, dactylopodial locomotive form. This discrepancy in morphology can be explained by the obligate parasitic lifestyle of Janickina.