Slime Mould field guide

Slime moulds are a diverse group of organsims that are neither plants, animals nor fungi. They spend most of their life as microscopic single-celled amoeboid individuals in leaf litter, soil or decaying wood, and when conditions are right they reproduce and form a larger, spreading structure called a plasmodium, which in turn produces fruiting bodies (Secretive Slime Moulds: Myxomycetes of Australia By Steven L. Stephenson). 

• Examples of the plasmodium stage can be viewed here: Myxomycete plasmodium
• Examples of the past plasmodial stage (including fruiting bodies) can be viewed here: Myxomycete - past plasmodial stage

For beginners, here is a “A Key to Common Genera of Slime Moulds” written and illustrated by Peta McDonald, a Melbourne primary school teacher: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/A_Key_to_Common_Genera_of_Slime_Moulds.pdf

A more technical key can be found in “Taxonomic Keys and Plates from The Myxomycetes”, a book by George W. Martin and Constantine J. Alexopoulos: https://www.myxotropic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/MyxoKeys.pdf

For a photo gallery of slime moulds from around the world check out this one on a Spanish myxomycetes website: https://www.myxotropic.org/galeria/

Further information: 

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slime_mold
• The weird world of slime mould - Australian Geographic

Slime Moulds

17 species

Arcyria sp. (genus) (A slime mould)

Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa (Coral Slime)

Comatricha sp. (genus) (A slime mould)

Diderma subasteroides

Fuligo septica (Scrambled egg slime)

Leocarpus fragilis (Egg-shell Slime Mould)

Lycogala epidendrum (Complex) (Wolf's milk)

Mucilago crustacea (Dog Sick Slime Mould)

Myxomycete - past plasmodial stage

Myxomycete-plasmodium(class) (A slime mould)

Physarales (order)

Physarum sp. (genus) (A slime mould)

Reticularia sp. (genus) (A slime mould)

Stemonitales (Order)

Stemonitis sp. (genus) (A slime mould)

Trichiales (Order)

Tubifera ferruginosa Complex (Raspberry Slime)