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The classification of amoebae is a contentious issue. Even at the species level, there are arguments about whether two species of amoeba are in the fact the same species. Many amoeba have numerous scientific names, placing them in many different genuses. This makes amoeba classification a very complex subject.
Amoebae are difficult to classify for several reasons:
- Amoebae reproduce asexually, so genetic compatibility cannot be tested by crossbreeding.
- Research suggests that some of the traits originally used to tell amoeba apart, as they were thought not to change, do change in certain environments. This makes it difficult to visually tell species apart.
- It is known that the amoeba type form has evolved separately in many organisms. This raises the possibility that amoeba groups are only very distantly related, despite a similar lifestyle and appearance. They may have undergone convergent evolution.
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