Myxogastria is a class

Class (biology)

In biological classification, class is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, order, family, genus, and species, with class fitting between phylum and order...

 of Mycetozoa

Mycetozoa

Mycetozoa is a grouping of slime molds.-Classification:It can be divided into dictyostelid, myxogastrid, and protostelid groups.The mycetozoan groups all fit into the unikont supergroup Amoebozoa, whereas most other slime molds fit into various bikont groups .-Utility in research:Dictyostelids are...

, itself a grouping of slime molds, that contains 5 orders

Order (biology)

In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...

, 14 families

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

, 62 genera

Genera

Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...

, and 888 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

. Notable examples within Myxogastria include the genus Stemonitis

Stemonitis

Stemonitis is a distinctive genus of slime molds found throughout the world . They are characterised by the tall brown sporangia, supported on slender stalks, which grow in clusters on rotting wood...

and the species Physarum polycephalum

Physarum polycephalum

Physarum polycephalum belongs to the supergroup Amoebozoa, phylum Mycetozoa, and class Myxogastria. P. polycephalum, often referred to as the “many-headed slime,” is a slime mold that inhabits shady, cool, moist areas, such as decaying leaves and logs...

. Myxogastria are also referred to as myxogastrids.

They are heterotrophic organisms which pray on microbial food web

Microbial food web

The microbial food web refers the combined trophic interactions among microbes in aquatic environments. These microbes include viruses, bacteria, algae, heterotrophic protists ....

s, and so they are able to engulf and digest bacteria

Bacteria

Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

, yeast

Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...

, fungal spores, and decaying matter.

Myxomycota

The group formerly known as Myxomycota, now known not to be fungal, is now usually classified under Myxogastria. Myxomycota are also referred to as myxomycetes.

Terminology and classification

The Latin name Myxomycota comes from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 words μύξα (myxa), which means "mucus

Mucus

In vertebrates, mucus is a slippery secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. Mucous fluid is typically produced from mucous cells found in mucous glands. Mucous cells secrete products that are rich in glycoproteins and water. Mucous fluid may also originate from mixed glands, which...

", and μύκης (myces), which means "fungus

Fungus

A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...

". They are colloquially known as plasmodial or acellular slime molds. Some would also consider Myxomycota as a higher systematic group (i.e. kingdom) unto itself, with an unsettled phylogeny because of conflicting molecular and developmental data. The relations between lower systematic groups (in this case orders) are as yet unclear.

Life cycle

When a myxomycete spore germinates, it cracks, releasing an amoeboid cell called a myxamoeba. Depending upon environmental conditions, the myxamoeba can produce flagella, in which case it is known as a swarm cell. This process is reversible and the flagellum

Flagellum

A flagellum is a tail-like projection that protrudes from the cell body of certain prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and plays the dual role of locomotion and sense organ, being sensitive to chemicals and temperatures outside the cell. There are some notable differences between prokaryotic and...

 can be retracted so the myxamoeba is established again. The latter ingests food via phagocytosis and divides as it eats. When two myxamoebae of different mating type

Mating type

Mating types occur in eukaryotes that undergo sexual reproduction via isogamy. Since the gametes of different mating types look alike, they are often referred to by numbers, letters, or simply "+" and "-" instead of "male" and "female." Mating can only take place between different mating...

s find each other, they will merge, forming a zygote

Zygote

A zygote , or zygocyte, is the initial cell formed when two gamete cells are joined by means of sexual reproduction. In multicellular organisms, it is the earliest developmental stage of the embryo...

. The zygote itself will not divide, but rather it will grow as its nucleus

Cell nucleus

In cell biology, the nucleus is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It contains most of the cell's genetic material, organized as multiple long linear DNA molecules in complex with a large variety of proteins, such as histones, to form chromosomes. The genes within these...

 divides, forming a large, multinucleate cell called a plasmodium. The plasmodium will continue to consume organic matter through phagocytosis. After some time, for unknown causes, the plasmodium will convert into a spore-bearing structure called a fruiting body. The four major types of fruiting bodies are the sporangium

Sporangium

A sporangium is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. All plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cycle...

, the aethalium, the psedoaethalium and the plasmodiocarp. Spores are released from the fruiting body and the life cycle starts over.