Myxomycota [audio pronunciation]

Common name

Plasmodial slime molds

Synonyms

None

Mode of nutrition

Heterotrophic: ingestive

Habitat

Terrestrial: moist decaying vegetation

Growth habit

Multinucleate single-cell plasmodium

Cell wall

None

Undulipodia (“flagella”)

One or two whiplash on aquatic haploid uninucleate cells; otherwise none

Food storage

Glycogen

Clonal reproduction

None

Sexual reproduction

Diplod phase resembles diploid dominant; haploid phase resembles unicellular

Representative genera

Arcyria, Dictydium, Physarum, Stemonitis

Recognized by

Plasmodium; meiosporangia often clustered.

jcclark@csupomona.edu
© 2002 by Curtis Clark