Investigating the biodiversity of amoebae from the Smith College Plant House

Rhizaria are a group of organisms without a key synapomorphy, or shared derived trait, uniting them. As a group, they are incredibly diverse, and include cells with shells and net-like pesudopod extensions— the Foraminifera; as well as chlorarachniophytes— naked amoebae with chloroplasts and the ability to photosynthesize (Bauldauf 2008). This group is relatively well supported, repeatedly emerging as a monophyletic clade through molecular analyses of SSU-rDNA and multigene phylogenies, yet the placement of smaller groups within this large eukaryotic clade remain poorly resolved (Parfrey et. al. 2010, Burki et. al. 2010). In this investigation, morphological and molecular analyses of three additional organisms isolated from the Smith College Plant House are added to the number of Rhizaria taxa. The species Trinema penardi is identified morphologically, and molecular analyses place the isolate sister to Trinema lineare within Rhizaria. Additionally, the taxonomy of the Rhizaria genus, Arachnula sp. ATCCОВ 50593TM, is assessed