Psammophaga fuegiais a new monothalamid foraminifera discovered in surface sediment samples in the Beagle Channel, South America. The species is a member of the important, globally distributed genus Psammophaga, which has the ability to ingest and store mineral particles inside the cytoplasm. Its shape is ovoid to pyriform, the size varies from 250 to 600 µm in length and from 200 to 400 µm in width. Like other Psammophaga species P. fuegia has a single aperture. It was found in multiple samples across the Beagle Channel area at water depths of 4 to 220 meters and in environments as variable as fjords, the main channel, and the harbour of Puerto Williams (Chile). The occurrences of the new species in environmental DNA and RNA samples correspond well to its distribution inferred from the microscopic study.
