Myxogastria

Myxogastria or myxogastrids, formerly known as Myxomycota, is a class of Mycetozoa, itself a grouping of slime moulds, that contains 5 orders, 14 families, 62 genera and 888 species. They are colloquially known as the plasmodial or acellular slime moulds.

All species pass through several, very different morphologic phases, such as microscopic individual cells, slimy amorphous organisms visible with the naked eye and conspicuously shaped fruit bodies. Although they are monocellular, they can reach immense widths and weights: in extreme cases they can be up to one metre across and weigh up to 20 kilograms.

The class Myxogastria is distributed worldwide, but it is more common in temperate regions where it has a higher biodiversity than in polar regions, the subtropics or tropics. They are mainly found in open forests, but also in extreme regions such as deserts, under snow blankets or underwater.