The Amoebidae are a family of

Amoebozoa Amoebozoa is a major Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group containing about 2,400 described species of Amoeba, amoeboid protists, often possessing blunt, fingerlike, Pseudopod#Morphology, lobose pseudopods and tubular mitochondrial cristae. In trad ...

, including naked amoebae that produce multiple pseudopodia of indeterminate length. These are roughly cylindrical with granular endoplasm and no subpseudopodia, as found in other members of the class

Tubulinea 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 cylindrica ...

. During locomotion one pseudopod typically becomes dominant and the others are retracted as the body flows into it. In some cases the cell moves by "walking", with relatively permanent

pseudopodia A pseudopod or pseudopodium (: pseudopods or pseudopodia) is a temporary arm-like projection of a eukaryotic cell membrane that is emerged in the direction of movement. Filled with cytoplasm, pseudopodia primarily consist of actin filaments and ...

serving as limbs. The most important genera are ''

Amoeba An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; : amoebas (less commonly, amebas) or amoebae (amebae) ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of Cell (biology), cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by ...

'' and ''

Chaos Chaos or CHAOS may refer to: Science, technology, and astronomy * '' Chaos: Making a New Science'', a 1987 book by James Gleick * Chaos (company), a Bulgarian rendering and simulation software company * ''Chaos'' (genus), a genus of amoebae * ...

'', which are set apart from the others by longitudinal ridges. The best known of the species in this family is ''

Amoeba proteus ''Amoeba proteus'' is a large species of amoeba closely related to another genus of giant amoebae, ''Chaos (genus), Chaos''. As such, the species is sometimes given the alternative scientific name ''Chaos diffluens''. This protozoan uses extensi ...

'', commonly used in classrooms to demonstrate movement by pseudopodia.

References

Amoebozoa families Taxa named by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg {{Amoebozoa-stub