Description of Sphenoderia
provided by BioPedia
Test: clear, circular or ovoid; shell plates overlapping, elliptical or nearly circular. Pseudostome: more or less terminal, a narrow, oval slit at the end of a broad, clear collar covered with numerous small (1 - 2 µm) plates. Nucleus: spherical, few small endosomes (nucleoli). Feeding: herbivore, mainly bacteria. Habitat: mosses, Sphagnum. Until now 16 species and several subspecies have been described, which differ mainly in size, shape and arrangement of body scales. Only a few have been studied with modern methods. Type species: Sphenoderia lenta Schlumberger, 1845.
