Twelve unrecorded species of testate amoebae discovered from Korea

Testate amoebae are easily recognized as their characteristic shells from other protistan groups. They in which more than 1,900 species have been recorded are mixture of heterogeneous groups mainly composed of Amoebozoa and Cercozoa. In Korea, 74 species of testate amoebae have been recorded since late 1980s. Here I report a list of 12 unrecorded species of testate amoebae from Korea which were discovered during 2016-2018: Arcella crenulata Deflandre, 1928; Centropyxis cassis(Wallich, 1864); C. delicatula Penard, 1902; C. hirsuta Deflander, 1929; C. orbicularis Deflandre, 1929; C. sylvatica (Deflandre, 1929); Cyclopyxis eurystoma Deflandre, 1929; C. intermedia Kufferath, 1932; C. kahli(Deflandre, 1929); Difflugia diafana Vucetich, 1987; D. manicata Penard, 1902; Awerintzewia cyclostoma Schoutenden, 1906. As a result the fauna of testate amoebae in Korea is composed of 86 species. There are still much more species remained to be discovered in Korea. The faunal studies on testate amoebae will provide us valuable information about freshwater and soil environments.