Limnofila oxoniensis Bass and Cavalier-Smith, 2009
Diagnosis: cell bodies roughly elliptical or often irregular with polygonal outline; often in pairs or small clusters, or aligned longitudinally, connected (or apparently so) via filopodia; extremely slender filopodia extend from the cell often most prominently from the longitudinal apices, sometimes radiate more evenly though not so regularly as to confer radial symmetry. Filopodia several to 10X body length; attached to substrate; often branched, sometimes apparently anastomosing, granular, often heavily; granules often motionless but can move slowly along them. Filopodia decrease in thickness and visibility within creasing distance from the cell body; distally [1]0.1 mm wide, visible only under excellent optics; movement of cell bodies across substrate very rare or indiscernible. No flagellate phase or cysts.
Dimensions: cell bodies 7-25 µm.
Habitat: Bacterivorous. Type locality Oxford garden soil. I find this species sometimes in wet mounts kept in a moist chamber. I have found it in sediments from several locations in the Netherlands.
Remarks: Differs from L. mylnikovi in forming looser clusters or isolated cells not always connected by cytoplasmic strands; cell bodies usually much larger; filopodial anastomoses more common.
The cells in the photomicrographs on this page were present in moist chamber preparations from freshwater sediments. They had long branching granulofilopodia, and the cytoplasm in the body was constantly turning and moving.
