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With first joint fieldwork on Taymyr Peninsula during mid-1990s, a successful cooperation of German, Russian, and further international partners on permafrost and Quaternary palaeoenvironments in Siberia was started and resulted in extensive joint research for 3 decades. Studies of permafrost deposits and ground ice provided insights on past environmental and climatic changes, covering several hundreds of thousands of years into the past. They provide multi-proxy evidence for multiple glacial/interglacial cycles and different periods of past climate change or stability in Arctic land environments. Study objects were natural permafrost exposures along coastal sections, thaw slumps, and river banks, studied mostly during summers, complemented by permafrost cores from land, lake and sea ground drilled mostly in spring. Exposure geometry and stratigraphic horizon thickness have been surveyed using laser tachymetry, other measuring equipment, and drones. Based on multi-proxy analyses, mid- and late Quaternary periods were studied, resulting in >300 scientific papers. The approach includes geomorphic studies, various geochronological analyses, analysis of frozen sediments (for ice, carbon, nitrogen, and carbonate contents, grain-size parameters, magnetic susceptibility, heavy mineral compositions), ground ice (stable water isotopes, major ions) and of numerous fossil bioindicators, to reconstruct the Quaternary paleoenvironmental change. Oldest permafrost horizons were dated from the Batagay mega-thaw-slump (Yana Uplands) to about 650 ky with luminescence dating. Here and elsewhere, records of Eemian and Holocene interglacial periods, and environmental conditions associated with it were targeted. Many sites with late Pleistocene Yedoma Ice Complex have been explored. Lateglacial and Holocene warming induced enormous periglacial landscape changes by widespread permafrost degradation and substantial paleoecological changes. For vast Siberian areas where glacial records are not available, we aim on the establishment of permafrost as paleoclimatic archive, emphasizing peculiarities of permafrost age control and record resolution and stressing the great potential for understanding climate variability on glacial-interglacial timescales in Western Beringia.

Meisterfeldia bitsevi sp. nov. (Figs 1���3; Table 1) Description: shell bilaterally symmetrical, elongated oval, laterally not flattened, colorless, transparent. The dorsal side is slightly convex, posterior end curved to ventral side. The aperture is almost circular, placed on the ventral side, which is without any invagination and symmetrically convex as the dorsal side. Shell surface smooth, without mineral inclusions (Figs 1���3). Measurements: shell length��� 30.43���33.40 ��m; shell breadth ��� 15.70���18.10 ��m; shell depth���15.80���17.90 ��m; aperture width��� 5.10���6.20 ��m; aperture height��� 4.90���6.10 ��m (Table 1). * Shell measurements are shown in Fig. 3. List of associated testate amoebae: Trigonopyxis arcula, Centropyxis aerophila, C. sylvatica, C. sylvatica var. minor, C. eurystoma var. parvula, Plagiopyxis declivis, P. penardi, Schoenbornia humicola, Difflugia nana, Trinema lineare var. minuscula . Type locality: Urban park ���Bitsevsky forest���, Moscow (coordinates 55.59�� N 37.55�� E). Mixed spruce-birchlinden forest. Hollows on five trees at a height of 1.5 m. Semi-decomposed litter with a small number of mineral particles. Type specimen: Laboratory of Soil Bioindication, Department of Soil Geography, Faculty of Soil Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University, slide No. 1-2020. Etymology: species is named after the name of urban park ���Bitsevsky forest���, where it was found for the first time. Differential diagnosis: from the other species of the genus Meisterfeldia (Figs 4, 5) new species distinguished by its larger size and lack of lateral compression (in contrast with M. chibisovi, M. wegeneri, M. polygonia), slightly elliptic aperture (in contrast with M. vanhoornei) and lack of pseudostomal neck and apertural collar (in contrast with M. turfacea)., Published as part of Bobrov, Anatoly & Mazei, Yuri, 2021, Meisterfeldia bitsevi-new testate amoeba of the family Cryptodifflugiidae Jung 1942 (Amoebozoa: Arcellinida) from the tree hollow in the urban park (Moscow Russia) with a key to species of the genus Meisterfeldia, pp. 595-600 in Zootaxa 4908 (4) on pages 596-598, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4908.4.11, http://zenodo.org/record/4447044

Key to the species of the genus Meisterfeldia 1. Shell length exceeds 30 µm...................................................................... M. bitsevi 1’. Shell length less than 20 µm............................................................................ 2 2. Shell with distinct pseudostomal neck and apertural lip.............................................. M. turfacea 2’. Shell without pseudostomal neck and apertural lip........................................................... 3 3. Shell cross section is circular. There is no invagination on the ventral side. Shell length 13–16 µm.......... M. vanhoornei 3’. Shell is more or less flattened. There is more or less prominent invagination on the ventral side. Shell length 6–11 µm..... 4 4. Aperture circular............................................................................ M. chibisovi 4’. Aperture elliptic...................................................................................... 5 5. Shell flattened (shell depth:breadth ratio is 0.60–0.70)............................................... M. wegeneri 5’. Shell slightly flattened (shell depth:breadth ratio is 0.85–0.95)........................................ M. polygonia

Frenopyxis gen. nov. Description. Shell bilaterally symmetrical, broad elliptic, sometimes almost circular, dorsoventrally flattened, yellowish to colorless; aperture is placed slightly eccentrically on a ventral part of a shell at the bottom of a wide funnel (invagination); aperture usually drop-shaped with narrow side oriented toward closest side; sometimes aperture circular. There is an internal thick organic lip surrounding an aperture and continuing in a bridle, which connects an aperture with the internal side of a shell wall and broaden in the place of connection of a bridle and a shell wall. Etymology. The name of new taxon reflects its most characteristic feature, i.e. bridle (from Latin��� Frenum). Type species. Frenopyxis stierlitzi sp. nov. Related genera. New genus differs from the type genus of the family Centropyxis Stein, 1857 by an internal thick organic lip surrounding an aperture and continuing in a bridle, which connects an aperture with the internal side of a shell wall and broaden in the place of connection of a bridle and a shell wall. New genus differs from the genus Armipyxis Dekhtjar, 2009 by luck of internal transversal diaphragms with circular openings, which subdivide internal shell volume into two parts; internal bridle of the new genus connects aperture and shell wall (as in Armipyxis) but does not subdivide the shell into separate sections., Published as part of Bobrov, Anatoly & Mazei, Yuri, 2020, Frenopyxis stierlitzi gen. nov., sp. nov. - new testate amoeba (Amoebozoa Arcellinida) from the urban parks with notes on the systematics of the family Centropyxidae Jung, 1942, pp. 384-394 in Zootaxa 4885 (3) on page 385, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4885.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/4296751, {"references":["Dekhtjar, M. N. (2009) The peculiarities of shell morphology and taxonomic composition of the family Centropyxidae (Testacealobosia, Rhizopoda). Vestnik zoologii, 43, 297 - 303. [in Russian with English summary]"]}

Frenopyxis stierlitzi sp. nov. (Figs 1���3; Table 1) Description. Shell bilaterally symmetrical, broad elliptic, sometimes almost circular, dorsoventrally flattened, yellowish to colorless; aperture is placed slightly eccentrically on a ventral part of a shell at the bottom of a wide funnel (invagination); aperture usually drop-shaped with narrow side oriented toward closest side; sometimes aperture circular (Figs 1j ��l). There is an internal thick organic lip surrounding an aperture and continuing in a bridle, which connects an aperture with the internal side of a shell wall and broaden in the place of connection of a bridle and a shell wall. Shell surface smooth on a ventral side and covered densely by mineral particles on a dorsal side. Organic cement with simple circular pores regularly and densely distributed on the surface. This feature is likely to cause the shell wall to become fragile and thus need to be reinforced by an apertural lip and a bridle connected with a shell wall. Measurements. Shell length [character 1���see Fig. 3]��� 37.80���45.90 ��m; shell breadth [character 2]��� 32.40��� 37.80 ��m; shell depth [character 4]��� 13.50���24.30 ��m; distance between the aperture and the top edge of the shell [character 3]��� 8.10���15.30 ��m; aperture length [character 6]��� 8.10���15.12 ��m; aperture breadth [character 5]��� 6.21���13.50 ��m; bridle length [character 7] ��� 5.40���8.20 ��m; bridle breadth [character 8]��� 3.24���6.75 ��m. List of associated testate amoebae. Samples from hollows of the Bitsevsky forest contained few species: Trigonopyxis arcula, T. minuta, Centropyxis aerophila, C. delicatula, C. sylvatica v. minor , Cyclopyxis eurystoma v. parvula; local community from the litter in a shallow hollow of the Tsuga canadensis tree-trunk from Babelsberg Park is more diverse and included Arcella arenaria v. compressa , Centropyxis constricta, C. delicatula, C. sylvatica, Cyclopyxis eurystoma, Trigonopyxis arcula, Phryganella acropodia, Valkanovia elegans, Euglypha anadonta, Corythion dubium, C. pulchellum, Trinema complanatum, and T. complanatum v. elongata. Type locality. Urban park ���Bitsevsky forest���, Moscow (coordinates 55.59�� N 37.55�� E). Mixed spruce-birchlinden forest. Hollow on spruce tree at a height of 0.5 m. Semi-decomposed litter with a small number of fine mineral particles. Type specimen. Laboratory of Soil Bioindication, Department of Soil Geography, Faculty of Soil Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University, slide No. 2-2020. Etymology. The species is named after Max Otto von Stierlitz one of the lead character in a popular Russian book series written in the 1960s by novelist Yulian Semyonov and of the television adaptation ���Seventeen Moments of Spring���, directed by Tatyana Lioznova and starring by Vyacheslav Tikhonov. Stierlitz has become a stereotypical spy in Soviet and post-Soviet culture, similar to James Bond in Western culture. Stierlitz lived in Babelsberg (Potsdam, Germany) where one of the populations of the new species was discovered. Moreover, this name underlines hidden nature of the habitat (viz. tree hollows), where new species was discovered., Published as part of Bobrov, Anatoly & Mazei, Yuri, 2020, Frenopyxis stierlitzi gen. nov., sp. nov. - new testate amoeba (Amoebozoa Arcellinida) from the urban parks with notes on the systematics of the family Centropyxidae Jung, 1942, pp. 384-394 in Zootaxa 4885 (3) on pages 385-388, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4885.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/4296751

Bobrov, Anatoly, Qin, Yangmin, Payne, Richard J. (2019): ANATOLY BOBROV, YANGMIN QIN & RICHARD J. PAYNE (2019) A new testate amoebae species Planhoogenraadia wuchanica sp. nov. from subtropical forest soils in Wuhan, central China Zootaxa, 4550: 289-294. Zootaxa 4614 (3): 600-600, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4614.3.12

Planhoogenraadia wuchanica Qin, 2019 (Figs. 1–2) Comparison with similar species. C ompared to species with similar morphology (P. bonetti and P. daurica) Planhogenraadia wuchanica differs by smaller size (Table 2). The ventral region of P. wuchanica is not as flat as other Planhoogenraadia species. The smaller shell length, narrower aperture and distinctive ‘cap’ structure make P. wuchanica morphologically distinct from the similar taxa P. acuta, P. alta and P. asturica. Many protists exhibit phenotypic plasticity which can lead to morphological variability that could be mistakenly assumed to represent taxonomic difference (Mulot et al. 2017). However, it is improbable that phenotypic plasticity is the case here. Diagnostic features such as the ‘cap’ are clearly-developed structures not present in other, related taxa, whereas phenotypic plasticity is typically associated with variability in properties such as length and volume (Ogden & Hedley 1980; Arrieira et al. 2016; Mulot et al. 2017). The coefficients of variation we identify are small, further suggesting that phenotypic plasticity is unlikely. It is overwhelmingly probable that Planhogenraadia wuchanica is a previously-unrecorded species.

Description of Planhoogenraadia wuchanica sp. nov. Description. The shell of this species is elongate-elliptical with slight constriction in the aperture region. The shell is grey and consists of mineral particles of variable size embedded in organic cement. The dorsal side of the shell is evenly convex. The transition from the posterior of the shell to the ventral side is a circular arc without any angularity. The aperture is narrow-elliptical, open on the ventral side. The upper lip of the aperture is extended forming a cap-like structure. This cap-like structure extends several microns (mean=22 ��m) beyond the aperture and protrudes beyond the ventral surface of the shell terminating in a blunt lip. The height and the depth of the aperture are variable (from 10 to 38 ��m). Coefficients of variation (CV) of shell length and height are less than 10% (Table 1), and CV values for most characteristics are lower than 15%, thus P. wuchanica can be considered a sizemonomorphic species. Measurements. The shell is large, with a mean length of 123 �� 8.3 ��m, and mean width of 79 �� 9.5 ��m. The shell is widest towards the center of the shell (mean=79 ��m). Habitat. Soil of subtropical forest with dominated by Cinnamomum camphora (camphor tree) and the grass Deyeuxia langsdorffii. Etymology. The species name ��� wuchanica ��� is in reference to the region ���Wuchang��� in Wuhan City where the species was firstly observed. Type specimens. The holotype specimens of Planhoogenraadia wuchanica on which morphometric analyses were based are stored at China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China (reference YJS17-1). Type locality. The type locality of the new species is surface soil in Cinnamomum camphora dominated subtopic forest in the Nanwangshan and Yujiashan mountains, both are near to Lake Donghu (Qin et al. 2013a) and adjacent to the campus of China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, central China. Ecology. Individuals described here were located in subtopical soils in forest dominated by Cinnamomum camphora and Deyeuxia langsdorffii. This habitat is similar to known habitats of other taxa in the genus Planhoogenraadia, which are abundant in subtropical and wet forest soils (Table 2). Geographical distribution. South central China., Published as part of Bobrov, Anatoly, Qin, Yangmin & Payne, Richard J., 2019, A new testate amoebae species Planhoogenraadia wuchanica sp. nov. from subtropical forest soils in Wuhan, central China, pp. 289-294 in Zootaxa 4550 (2) on pages 290-291, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4550.2.9, http://zenodo.org/record/2625385, {"references":["Qin, Y., Fournier, B., Lara, E., Gu, Y., Wang, H., Cui, Y., Zhang, X. & Mitchell, E. A. D. (2013 a) Relationships between testate amoeba communities and water quality in Lake Donghu, a large alkaline lake in Wuhan, China. Frontiers of Earth Science, 7 (2), 182 - 190. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 11707 - 013 - 0352 - 4"]}

C. angulata Playfair, 1917 Fig. 1 a Original description. Playfair 1917, P. 657, Table 38, Fig. 14. Description. Shell small, oval, transparent, lateral sides flattened, fundus rounded-conic, widest shell part in the middle, lateral sides converging at aperture. Shell surface smooth, without alien mineral particles. Aperture very small, circular. Measurements. Shell length 13���14 ��m, shell width 10 ��m. Habitat. Sphagnum mosses, wet green mosses, water plants, soil. Geographical distribution. Australia., Published as part of Bobrov, Anatoly & Mazei, Yuri, 2017, A review of testate amoeba genus Cryptodifflugia Penard, 1890 (Phryganellina: Cryptodifflugiidae) with a key to species, pp. 292-308 in Zootaxa 4282 (2) on page 293, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4282.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/818668, {"references":["Playfair, G. I. (1917) Rhizopods of Sydney and Lismore. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 42, 633 - 675. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. part. 4865"]}

C. apiculata (Cash, 1904) Page, 1966 Fig. 1 g Difflugiella apiculata Cash, 1904 Original description. Cash 1904, P. 225, Table 21, Fig.7. Description. Shell ovoid, not compressed laterally, chitinous, smooth, transparent, colorless, without mineral particles, aperture circular. Cytoplasm colorless. Measurements. Shell length 40 ��m, shell width 28���30 ��m. Habitat. Freshwater, Sphagnum mosses, wet green mosses, on the surface of aquatic algae and plants. Geographical distribution. England, Russia, Germany, Romania., Published as part of Bobrov, Anatoly & Mazei, Yuri, 2017, A review of testate amoeba genus Cryptodifflugia Penard, 1890 (Phryganellina: Cryptodifflugiidae) with a key to species, pp. 292-308 in Zootaxa 4282 (2) on page 295, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4282.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/818668, {"references":["Cash, J. (1904) On some new and little-know British freshwater Rhizopoda. Journal of the Linnean Society, 29, 218 - 225.","Page, F. C. (1966) Cryptodifflugia operculata n. sp. (Rhizopodea: Arcellinida, Cryptodifflugiidae) and the status of the genus Cryptodifflugia. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 85, 506 - 515."]}