A description of a new "Amoebozoan" isolated from the American lobster, Homarus americanus.

Our knowledge of the diversity of amoeboid protists is rapidly expanding as new and old habitats are more fully explored. In 2003, while investigating the cause of an amoeboid disease afflicting lobsters on the East Coast, samples were examined for the presence of amoebae from the carapace washings of the American lobster, Homarus americanus. During this survey a unique community of gymnamoebae was discovered. Among the new taxa discovered was a small Thecamoeba-like organism with a single posteriorly directed pseudopodium. Although resembling Parvamoeba rugata, this amoeba displayed distinctive morphology from that isolate or any other amoebozoan. Phylogenetic analysis shows this amoeba is distantly related to the Thecamoebidae. In this paper we describe the unique morphology of a second species of Parvamoeba and discuss its phylogenetic position with respect to the "Amoebozoa."