A Preliminary Report of Testate Amoebae (Protozoa : Tubulinea and Cercozoa) in Govind National Park, Uttarakhand, India

Studies relating to testate amoebae in Uttarakhand have been sporadic and testates have been documented only from a few protected areas and so far there are no records from Govind National Park, Uttarakhand. Therefore, as a part of faunistic survey in Uttarakhand, a study to document the moss inhabitant testate diversity was carried out in Govind Wildlife Sanctuary in October 2019 and has filled the lacuna of Testate Amoebae study in the sanctuary to form the foundation for further investigation. The study revealed the occurrence of a total of 42 species belonging to 16 genera and 9 families. Of these, 4 species viz., Cyclopyxis tronconica Godeanu, 1972, Certesella martiali Certes, 1889, Quadrulella madibai Kosakyan et al., 2016 and Assulina discoides Bobrov, Shimano and Mazei, 2012 are novel records to India. This report forms the baseline information for testate amoebae of Govind WLS suggesting the high diversity of testate fauna in the protected area which can be still higher if further explored.