Slime moulds: The tiny charmers

Abstract

Slime moulds are the special organisms exhibiting characters similar to lower animal groups on one side and with fungi on the other side. They show a plasmodial stage in the life cycle with amoeboid movement which is similar to protozoans. They produce sporocarp-bearing spores within similar to fungi. Because of this, they were sometimes considered as “animalcules”, or they gained the name “slime moulds”. Today they are separated from both these groups and are thought to form a separate group. But even today these organisms are studied by the mycologists. There are basically two types of slime moulds cellular and plasmodial. In this chapter, we will primarily discuss the plasmodial slime moulds. They typically belong to the group Myxomycetes.