The Tubulinea are a major grouping of Amoebozoa, including most of the more familiar amoebae genera like Amoeba, Arcella, Difflugia and Hartmannella.

Characteristics

During locomotion most Tubulinea have a roughly cylindrical form or produce numerous cylindrical pseudopods. Each cylinder advances by a single central stream of cytoplasm, granular in appearance, and has no subpseudopodia. This distinguishes them from other amoeboid groups, although in some members this is not the normal type of locomotion. [[File:2023 Lobosean.svg|thumb|center|upright=2|Representation of a tubulinid1. Ectoplasm 2. Endoplasm 3. Lobopodia, a pseudopod or arm-like projection made of cytoplasm 4. Phagocytic vacuole 5. Mitochondrion, creates ATP (energy) for the cell (branched cristae) 6. Endosymbiotic bacterium 7. Triuret (nitrogen waste) crystal 8. Prey 9. Nucleus 10. Honeycomb lamina 11. Nucleolus 12. Endoplasmic reticulum, the transport network for molecules going to specific parts of the cell 13. Golgi apparatus, modifies proteins and sends them out of the cell 14. Lysosome, holds enzymes 15. Digestive vacuole 16. Lipid granule 17. Vesicle 18. Contractile vacuole, regulates the quantity of water inside a cell 19. Uroid]]

Classification

This class was anticipated by some biologists such as Jahn, who grouped all amoebae with granular pseudopodia together, but most split the lobose amoebae into testate Testacealobosia and naked Gymnamoebia. These latter are polyphyletic, but molecular trees by Bolivar et al. identified a core monophyletic subgroup. Subsequent studies showed the testate lobose amoebae belong to the same group, which was thus renamed Lobosea sensu stricto or Tubulinea.

Taxonomy

The class Tubulinea, as of 2022, is classified into three major groups: Corycida, Echinamoebida and Elardia. The most taxonomically abundant group is Elardia, which contains the testate amoebae of Arcellinida and the naked amoebae of orders Leptomyxida and Euamoebida.