USEFOOL Resources

Ressources

This section provides curated tools and materials to support research on testate amoebae. Here you will find access to identification keys, protocols, species checklists, and a comprehensive collection of scientific literature, as well as external links to useful online resources. Each subsection is maintained by the ISTAR committee and will continue to grow as new materials become available.

📖 Identification Keys, Monographs & Protocols

Testate amoeba taxonomy remains unstable, with major revisions underway as molecular and morphological methods reveal substantial hidden diversity. Many named species are likely morpho-species or species complexes, and future work will require detailed morphological documentation (light microscopy and SEM), robust biometry, and molecular data (e.g., SSU, COI/COX).

Despite these limitations, the following keys, monographs, and resources remain essential tools for identification, taxonomy, and teaching. Suggestions for additional material are welcome (david.singer@changins.ch).

 

 

📕 Illustrated Websites & Monographs

  • Microworld of Amoeboid Organisms — Ferry Siemensma
    A comprehensive and continually updated online resource providing high-quality images, descriptions, and nomenclatural information — the best entry point for learning testate amoebae.
    → Visit Microworld
  • A Taxonomic Monograph of Hyalospheniid Testate Amoebae (DOI: 10.33055/ALPHIL.00614)
    Kosakyan, Meisterfeld, Lara, Duckert & Mitchell, 2025
    → View monograph
  • Atlas of Sphagnum-Dwelling Testate Amoebae in Bulgaria
    Todorov & Bankov, 2019
    → View atlas
  • Guide to Testate Amoebae with Keys to Genera
    Tsyganov, Babeshko & Mazei, 2016 (Penza State University)
    → Download PDF
  • Mazei & Tsyganov 2006 — Freshwater Testate Amoebae (in Russian)
    → Download PDF

Historical Monographs

  • Leidy (1879) — Freshwater Rhizopods of North America — → Link
  • Penard (1902) — La Faune Rhizopodique du Bassin du Léman — → Link
  • Grospietsch (1958) — Wechseltierchen (Rhizopoden) — → Download PDF
  • Harnisch (1959) — Rhizopoden — → Download PDF

 

🔑 Identification Keys

Arcellinida

Euglyphida

 

📋 Checklists

  • Testate Amoeba Checklist — Mexico
    Bobrov & Krasilnikov, 2013 — → Download PDF

 

🧪 Protocols

  • Preparation and analysis of testate amoebae in peatland palaeoenvironmental studies
    Booth, Lamentowicz & Charman, 2010 — → Download PDF

📚 Scientific Literature

The scientific literature on testate amoebae is widely dispersed across journals, books, and reports, often making it difficult to locate and access. To support the research community, we provide here a curated reference list regrouping published work on testate amoebae.

 

Core Reference Resources

  • 📑 The Thecamoebian Bibliography (Medioli et al.)
    A comprehensive compilation of all published testate amoeba literature up to 2003, and still the most complete historical bibliography of the group.
    → Download PDF
  • 📁 Testate Amoeba EndNote Library (compiled by Edward Mitchell, University of Neuchâtel)
    Includes all publications listed on this page, available as PDF files.
    → Download ZIP

We plan to develop a system allowing community members to contribute missing references and corresponding PDFs. Suggestions and additions are welcome — contact david.singer@changins.ch

 

🌐 Useful Resources

A curated selection of external online resources relevant to testate amoeba research, including taxonomic databases, protist research networks, image collections, and freely accessible scientific platforms. To suggest additional resources, contact david.singer@changins.ch

 

 

🔬 Microscopy Image Collections & Expert Blogs

  • Digital Key to Testate Amoebae — McKeown et al., 2021 — → Link
  • German Gallery — Wolfgang Bettighofer — → Link
  • It Came From The Pond — Bruce Taylor — → Link
  • Microworld — World of Amoeboid Organisms — Ferry Siemensma — → Link
  • Penard Collection in Geneva (historic slides) — → Link
  • Penard — The Fascinating World of Amoeboid Organisms — → Link
  • Real Micro Life — Martin Kreutz — → Link
  • Tecamebas — Brazilian testate amoebae platform — → Link

 

📖 Classic Literature & Historical Monographs

  • Biodiversity Heritage Library (historic literature) — → Link
  • British Freshwater Rhizopoda & Heliozoa I — Cash & Hopkinson, 1905 — → Link
  • British Freshwater Rhizopoda & Heliozoa II — Cash & Hopkinson, 1909 — → Link
  • British Freshwater Rhizopoda & Heliozoa III — Cash, Wailes & Hopkinson, 1915 — → Link
  • British Freshwater Rhizopoda & Heliozoa IV — Cash, Wailes & Hopkinson, 1919 — → Link
  • British Freshwater Rhizopoda & Heliozoa V — Cash, Wailes & Hopkinson, 1919 — → Link
  • Faune Rhizopodique du Bassin du Léman — Penard, 1902 — → Link
  • Fresh-Water Rhizopods of North America — Leidy, 1879 — → Link
  • Taxonomy of the Amoebas — Schaeffer, 1926 — → Link
  • Ueber Rhizopoden und denselben nahestehende Organismen — Hertwig & Lesser, 1874 — → Link

 

🏷️ Taxonomy & Nomenclature

  • International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) — → Link
  • UNIEUK — Universal Eukaryote Taxonomy Framework — → Link

 

🗄️ Databases & Sequence Resources