Plant Ecology and Evolution 147 (1): 85–92, 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.2014.883 First records of Protosteloid Amoebae (Eumycetozoa) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo Myriam de Haan 1,* , Christine Cocquyt 1 , Alex Tice 2 , Geoff Zahn 2 & Frederick W. Spiegel 2 1 Botanic Garden Meise, Nieuwelaan 38, BE-1860 Meise, Belgium 2 Department of Biological Sciences, SCEN 601, 1 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA *Author for correspondence: myriam.dehaan@br.fgov.be INTRODUCTION Protosteloid Amoebae, formerly known as protostelids (Ol- ive 1967), represent a small group of thirty three species de- scribed worldwide (Spiegel et al. 2007b). Identifcation of the taxa is primarily based on morphologic characters of the mi- croscopic fruiting bodies or sporocarps, composed of a trans- lucent stalk supporting one or more spores. Protostelids were traditionally placed together with and considered as progeni- tors of two other groups of fruiting amoebae, myxomycetes and dictyostelids in the Eumycetozoa (Olive 1975). Recent molecular phylogenetic research by Shadwick et al. (2009) revealed that protostelids are not monophyletic and that only a few of them are related to myxomycetes and dictyostelids. Furthermore the study showed that the protostelids can be divided into at least seven non-related but well supported clades, some showing affliations with known groups of non- fruiting amoebae, scattered throughout the Amoebozoa. For this reason it was proposed to replace the name protostelids by Protosteloid Amoebae (Shadwick et al. 2009). Data about the distribution and ecology of these protists is not spread evenly throughout the world. North America and Europe are relatively well studied, but from other tem- perate regions less data are available (Ndiritu et al. 2009, de Haan 2011). Most parts of the tropics are still unexplored. A few surveys have been published from South and Cen- tral America, e.g. Costa Rica (Stephenson & Moore 1998, Moore & Stephenson 2003) and Puerto Rico (Stephenson et al. 1999, Moore & Spiegel 2000). Data have been published from Australia (Powers & Stephenson 2006), and results from a series of surveys from Hawai’i have been presented (Spiegel et al. 2007a). Few records were known from Africa, restricted to Egypt and Uganda (Olive & Stoianovitch 1969, 1972, 1976) until recently Ndiritu et al. (2009) published a large survey carried out in the Aberdare region, Kenya, in- cluding some data from Malawi and Tanzania. The present paper deals with the frst records of Protoste- loid Amoebae from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R. Congo). Aerial litter samples were collected during a multidisci- plinary expedition in D.R. Congo in May and June 2010. The expedition was an initiative of the Congo 2010 Consortium composed of three Belgian and two Congolese institutes, the All rights reserved. © 2014 Botanic Garden Meise and Royal Botanical Society of Belgium – ISSN 2032-3921 REGULAR PAPER Background – The frst records of Protosteloid Amoebae in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are discussed in the present paper. This survey on Protosteloid Amoebae is the frst from Central Africa; the previous records for the African continent were restricted to Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. Methods – Aerial litter samples, collected in 2010 during the “Boyekoli Ebale Congo” expedition in the Congo River basin between the cities of Kisangani and Bumba, were put into culture on wMY medium, a weak malt yeast nutrient agar medium. Results – The aerial litter cultures revealed 23 species representing 70% of the total number of species described worldwide. Two of these taxa, Schizoplasmodiopsis reticulata and Schizoplasmodium seychellarum, are new records for the African continent. The isolate LHI05 was observed for the frst time on a substrate collected outside Hawai’i. In addition, 5 unknown taxa were observed. A selection of micrographs is presented of the new recorded species, the unknown taxa and all their related species observed in this study. Conclusion – The high species diversity observed on a limited number of samples suggests that the investigated region is, together with Hawai’i, one of the world’s tropical hotspots for Protosteloid Amoebae. Key words – Aerial litter, Central Africa, D.R. Congo, Eumycetozoa, Protosteloid Amoebae, Species richness.