Slime Molds

Slime molds are not true fungi, although they were long classified together in the Myxomycophyta as part of the Fungi. There are three main groups that do not form a single clade. Plasmodial slime molds are basically enormous single cells with thousands of nuclei, formed when flagellated cells swarm together and fuse. Cellular slime molds live as separate amoeboid cells until a chemical signal makes them aggregate into a swarm, and the Dictyostelida and Acrasida belong here. The Labyrinthulomycota, or slime nets, appear to be closer to the Chromista. What the three groups share is a life cycle that superficially resembles that of fungi, in which spores are produced in sporangia.