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Vannella epipetala n. sp. Isolated from the Leaf Surface of Spondias mombin (Anacardiaceae) Growing in the Dry Forest of Costa Rica
Author(s) -
AMARALZETTLER LINDA A.,
COLE JEFFREY,
LAATSCH ABBY D.,
NERAD THOMAS A.,
ANDERSON O. ROGER,
REYSENBACH ANNALOUISE
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of eukaryotic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 1066-5234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2006.00143.x
Subject(s) - biology , anacardiaceae , botany , genus , zoology
. As part of a Microbial Observatory of Caterpillars located in the Area de Conservacíon Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica, we isolated a novel species of the genus Vannella associated with the food of the caterpillars of the saturniid moth Rothschildia lebeau , namely the leaves of the dry forest deciduous tree Spondias mombin (Anacardiaceae). The new species can be distinguished from other described species of the genus by the presence of a plasmalemma coated with a thickened, osmiophilic lamina containing glycostyles, and by its unusual habitat, the leaf surfaces or phylosphere of S. mombin . We further established the novelty of our isolate by sequencing its nuclear small‐subunit (SSU) rRNA gene and inferring its phylogenetic position among all other currently sequenced members of the genera Vannella and Platyamoeba . Our results reveal that our isolate shares most recent common ancestry with three strains of Platyamoeba placida , the type species of the genus Platyamoeba . Despite this placement, the isolate clearly possesses glycostyles that are the hallmark of the genus Vannella . In addition to the cultured isolate, we also present a closely related sequence from a SSU rRNA gene clone library constructed from a DNA extract of leaf‐wash of S. mombin with sterile water.