Clastoderma confusum (Myxomycetes: Amoebozoa), a remarkable new species of slime mould from Western Australia

Abstract

Myxomycetes (slime moulds) are a diverse group of c. 1,000 species of amoeboid eukaryotes (Lado 2005–2019). They are common in the soil and on decaying vegetable matter such as wood and leaf litter, although it may be difficult to detect these organisms due to their diminutive size (often less than 1 mm high) and dependence on conducive seasonal conditions for sporulation. Hence, while new species are sometimes discovered in the field, they are more often found through the use of what is termed the moist chamber culture. When conditions are unfavourable for continued growth, macroscopic fruiting bodies that contain spores are formed. Prior to this, myxomycetes exist in a vegetative phase as a plasmodium—a giant, multi-nucleate amoeba formed from the merging of two compatible freeliving myxoflagellates or myxamoebae cells from germinating spores.