Physarum polycephalum is an acellular slime mold, or myxomycete, technically an amoeba, with diverse cellular forms and a broad geographic distribution. Its acellular plasmodial stage is a bright yellow, macroscopic, multinucleate mass shaped as a network of interlaced tubes, and that stage, together with its preference for damp shady habitats, originally led to the organism being mistaken for a fungus. It is commonly cultivated and used as a model organism in research into motility, cellular differentiation, chemotaxis, cellular compatibility and the cell cycle.
Facts
Identification
Distinguishing AppearancePlasmodium is a bright yellow macroscopic multinucleate coenocyte shaped in a network of interlaced tubes 1 Classification
System (Realm) Scientific Name Connections
Child Taxon Of
Source Wikidata: Slime Mold
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Brazil, found in there.
- Also in Geography Atlas: Norway, found in there.
- Also in Geography Atlas: Taiwan, found in there.
Sources
1. Physarum polycephalum, Wikipedia
Introduction, first sentence
Physarum polycephalum, an acellular slime mold, or myxomycete, is an amoeba with diverse cellular forms
Life cycle and characteristics
the plasmodium is a bright yellow macroscopic multinucleate coenocyte shaped in a network of interlaced tubes
- slime mold in damp shady land habitats
View the SourceIUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Wikidata: Slime Mold
- Wikidata Q134950, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Child Taxon Of: Amoebozoa, Wikidata parent-taxon (P171) chain
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