Vampyrellids are immortal. At least if not starved. These highly effective predators have survived extreme climate changes over millennia, are populating fresh- and salt water and even periglacial soil in abundance. While shaping microbial communities, these protists are playing a pivotal role in ocean health and climate regulation.
In this book their structure and life cycle is revealed in stunning detail by Zeiss images allowing to witness the special abilities of shape-shifting, their applied different hunting strategies and their synchronized feeding and hatching.
Phylogenetic analysis and recent laboratory data enhance the translational power of the presented findings and account for telling insights into the lately discovered, highly resilient vampire amoeba PGC 2.2*. Tolerating temperature and salinity changes, various prey and artificial storage media, PGC 2.2 could be long-term cultured in laboratories in order to investigate into their biotechnological active agent eligibility. They might be a game changer when addressing recent ecological problems by facilitating element cycling and fighting organisms containing microplastic. The search for new vampyrellids is ongoing.
* New marine vampyrellid amoeba PGC 2.2 genus et species novel