Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Eur J Protistol. 2011 Aug;47(3):231-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ejop.2011.02.004. Epub 2011 Mar 11.
Flagship species are defined as microbial eukaryote species with characteristic morphologies and restricted geographic distributions. These are proposed as ideal systems to elucidate patterns of geographical distribution in microbial eukaryotes. Here we present new records of the putative flagship species Pseudonebela africana, a lobose testate amoeba (Arcellinida) characterized by a cross or clover-shaped aperture and geographic distribution previously believed to be restricted to Africa. We have sampled P. africana from 5 separate ponds in the Central and Southwest Brazillian "cerrado", and characterized individuals both by light and electron microscopy. We provide a brief description to facilitate further studies on this poorly understood taxon, and show that light microscopy is sufficient for identification, an important feature for ecological and biogeographical studies.
旗舰物种被定义为具有特征形态和受限地理分布的微生物真核生物物种。这些物种被提议作为阐明微生物真核生物地理分布模式的理想系统。在这里，我们提出了所谓的旗舰物种非洲拟球房虫的新记录，这是一种具有十字或三叶形开口的块状有壳变形虫（Arcellinida），其地理分布以前被认为仅限于非洲。我们从巴西中部和西南部的“塞拉多”的 5 个不同池塘中采集了非洲拟球房虫，并通过光学显微镜和电子显微镜对个体进行了特征描述。我们提供了一个简短的描述，以方便对这个了解甚少的分类群进行进一步的研究，并表明光学显微镜足以进行鉴定，这对于生态和生物地理学研究是一个重要特征。
