Description of Cyphoderia

Test: clear, yellowish, ovoid, round cross-section, base round or tapered to mammillate tip; plates round, small, depending on species adjoining or overlapping, on organic matrix, short cylindrical neck, bent; pseudopods, long, thin. Endoplasm with refractive grains. Nucleus: spherical, ovular. Feeding: herbivore. Habitat: freshwater, aquatic mosses, sphagnum and sediment. This genus comprises a dozen species and an equal number of varieties. Type species: Cyphoderia ampulla (Ehrenberg, 1840) has adjoining body scales but is often confused with C. trochus, with regularly imbricated scales.