An exceptional bloom (10⁹ cells/liter) of a unicellular alga, Aureococcus anophagefferens, in Narragansett Bay, RI, was accompanied by unusually high numbers (6 times 10⁶ tests/liter) of vase‐shaped cells of Calycomonas ovalis Wulff, hitherto considered a flagellated chrysophyte. Phase contrast light microscopy showed the characteristic oval lorica or test of C. ovalis, ca. 3.0 times 4.5 μm. Transmission electron microscopy of thin sections of natural populations revealed, however, that C. ovalis is actually a rhizopod within a test of electron‐dense scales. This estuarine, planktonk testacean extends a pseudopodium through a narrow pseudostome and lacks chloroplasts or flagella. It is a bacterivore and feeds primarily on unicellular cyanobacteria. The morphology, ultrastructure, and cell division of C. ovalis are described. These characteristics place C. ovalis with the genus Paulinella (Sarcodina: Filosea: Euglyphina), which at present contains the single species, P. chromatophora Lauterbom. Calycomonas ovalis is thus assigned to Paulinella as P. ovalis n. comb.