Scientific name Lobosa Rank Subphylum | Higher classification Amoebozoa | |
Similar Amoebozoa, Tubulinea, Conosa, Discosea, Archamoebae | ||
Lobosa tea and mix
Lobosa is a taxonomic group of amoebae possessing broad, bluntly rounded pseudopods. In current classification schemes, it is a subphylum of Amoebozoa, composed of amoebae that have lobose pseudopods but lack cilia or flagella.
Contents
The group was originally proposed in 1861 by William B. Carpenter, who created it as a taxonomic order containing the single family Amoebina. Carpenter's Lobosa consisted of amoeboid organisms whose endoplasm (endosarc) flows into lobe-like "pseudopodian prolongations." This type of pseudopod, which was understood to be typical of the genus Amoeba "and its allies," differed from the filose (thread-like) or reticulose (netlike) pseudopods of the Foraminifera. The name Lobosa was chosen for these amoebae "as expressing the lobe-like character of their pseudopodial extensions."
As currently defined, the subphylum Lobosa includes both shelled (testate) and naked amoebae, but excludes some amoebozoan organisms traditionally regarded as "lobosean", such as Pelomyxa and Entamoeba.