Echinostelium | |
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Echinostelium minutum | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Phylum: | Amoebozoa |
Class: | Myxogastria |
Order: | Echinosteliales |
Family: | Echinosteliaceae |
Genus: | Echinostelium De Bary, 1855 |
Type species | |
Echinostelium minutum De Bary, 1855
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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]