What is an example of a slime mold?
The Myxomycetes (true slime molds) are characterized by a plasmodial stage and definite fruiting bodies. Other slime molds include Protostelia (minute, simple slime molds), Acrasia (cellular slime molds), Plasmodiophorina (parasitic slime molds), and Labyrinthulina (net slime molds).
What are three examples of fungus-like protists?
The three types of fungus-like protists are slime molds, water molds, and downy mildews. They are normally brightly colored, live in moist shady places, like the floor of the forest and ooze along the surfaces of decaying materials.
Which protists use slime mold?
Myxomycota: True Slime Molds. The Myxomycota are the true slime molds, also known as the plasmodial slime molds, and are considered members of the kingdom Protista. They exist in nature as a plasmodium—a blob of protoplasm without cell walls and only a cell membrane to keep everything in (Fig.
Is green slime a protist?
Like plants, they contain chlorophyll and make food by photosynthesis. Types of algae include red and green algae, euglenids, and dinoflagellates. Fungus-like protists are molds. Examples of fungus-like protists include slime molds and water molds.
Are slime molds fungi or protists?
Slime molds were formerly classified as fungi but are no longer considered part of that kingdom. Although not forming a single monophyletic clade, they are grouped within the paraphyletic group referred to as kingdom Protista. More than 900 species of slime mold occur globally.
What phylum are slime molds in?
Phylum Myxomycota
The most common classification system places slime molds in two phyla: Phylum Myxomycota and Phylum Acrasiomycota. The Myxomycota are the true (plasmodial) slime molds and the Acrasiomycota are the cellular slime molds.
Are slime mold protists?
Slime molds move, and lack chitin in their cell walls. They are now classified as belonging to the Kingdom Protista (Protoctista). Mycologists have studied them for so long that slime molds are still included in mycology textbooks.
Is slime mold an animal like protist?
Originally, they were considered fungi but are now classified as protists. The life cycle of slime molds is very similar to that of fungi. Haploid spores germinate to form cells that fuse to form a diploid zygote. Slime molds have both animal and plant like characteristics.
Is Plasmodium a Slime Mould?
plasmodium, in fungi (kingdom Fungi), a mobile multinucleate mass of cytoplasm without a firm cell wall. A plasmodium is characteristic of the vegetative phase of true slime molds (Myxomycetes) and such allied genera as Plasmodiophora and Spongospora. Plasmodia are shapeless and mobile. …
Are slime molds protists?
What is an example of a fungus-like protist?
Fungus-like protists are molds. Molds are absorptive feeders, found on decaying organic matter. They resemble fungi and reproduce with spores as fungi do. Examples of fungus-like protists include slime molds and water molds.
Which is an example of a fungus like protist?
So within the fungus-like protists, the slime molds are characterized by the ability of single cells to swarm together into groups and the ability to form spores during environmental stress. Physarum polycephalum is an example of a slime mold.
How are slime molds and fungi related to each other?
Once upon a time, scientists thought slime molds were in fact fungi, explaining the mold part of their name. Now we know they are actually only distantly related to fungi. But, at first glance, the life cycle of these eukaryotic microorganisms appears similar to that of fungi.
Why are slime molds called water molds?
There is the water mold group and the slime mold group, both which function as ecological decomposers. Water molds get their name because these funguslike protists live in water or in moist soil. Their role in the ecosystem is as decomposers of organic material, often dead and decaying matter.
What makes a water mold look like a fungus?
The water molds are filamentous protists, which means their cells form long, strand-like structures. These filaments appear similar to the growth of certain fungi, and they can also form spores like fungi. So, again, that explains the mold part of the name.
