Echinostelium Explained

Echinostelium is a genus of slime mould, and the only genus in the monotypic family Echinosteliaceae,^[1] or Echinosteliidae.^[2] It was discovered by Heinrich Anton de Bary in 1855, apparently near Frankfurt am Main.^[3] Some species of Echinostelium have a sexual life cycle; others have been shown to be asexual.^[4] The plasmodium can divide vegetatively, in a process called plasmotomy, to distinguish it from true cell division.^[5]

Species

The genus Echinostelium comprises at least five species:^[6]

• Echinostelium apitectum K. D. Whitney, 1980
• Echinostelium colliculosum K. D. Whitney & H. W. Keller, 1980
• Echinostelium corynophorum K. D. Whitney, 1980
• Echinostelium fragile Nannenga-Bremekamp, 1961
• Echinostelium minutum De Bary in Rostafinsky, 1874

Notes and References

1. 10.2307/3758063 . Constantine J. Alexopoulos & T. E. Brooks . 1971 . Taxonomic studies in the Myxomycetes. III. Clastodermataceae: a new family of the Echinosteliales . . 63 . 4 . 925–928 . 3758063.
2. Book: Lynn Margulis . Lynn Margulis . Michael J. Chapman . 2009 . Kingdoms and Domains: an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth . 4th . . 978-0-7167-3027-9 . Pr-23 Myxomycota . 190–191 . https://books.google.com/books?id=9IWaqAOGyt4C&pg=PA190.
3. 10.2307/2439491 . Constantine J. Alexopoulos . 1960 . Morphology and laboratory cultivation of Echinostelium minutum . . 47 . 1 . 37–43 . 2439491.
4. Clark. J.. Haskins, E.F.. Reproductive systems in the myxomycetes: a review. Mycosphere. 2010. 1. 4. 337–353.
5. Book: Helmut W. Sauer . 1982 . Developmental biology of Physarum . Volume 11 of Developmental and cell biology series . . 978-0-521-22703-2 . Lives of a true slime mould . 7–35 . https://books.google.com/books?id=ATk8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA30.
6. Book: T. W. May . 2003 . Basidiomycota p.p. & Myxomycota p.p. . Volume 2 of Catalogue and bibliography of Australian macrofungi . . 978-0-643-06907-7 . Echinosteliales . 2–3 . https://books.google.com/books?id=mTJsa5a3ZpcC&pg=PA3.