Amoeba

Amoebae are unicellular, eukaryotic, living beings that used to be classified in the large group of protozoa.

This completely artificial group has been broken down and the amoeba now form the Rhizopod group. However, some genera only superficially resemble the amoebae per se and can be grouped with the Mycetozoa.

Amoebae have a deformable cell body which puts out changing extensions, pseudopodia, which enable them to climb onto a support or bind microscopic prey by phagocytosis.

Most of them are species that live freely in water, damp earth and mosses although some can cause a range of diseases. Amoebae in the thecamoebae subgroup have a shell which protects the cell body, with the one exception of the pseudopodia.