Echinostelium

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]

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

Species

The genus Echinostelium comprises at least five species:^[6]

• Echinostelium apitectum K. D. Whitney, 1980
• Echinostelium colliculosum K. D. Whitney & H. W. Keller, 1980
• Echinostelium corynophorum K. D. Whitney, 1980
• Echinostelium fragile Nannenga-Bremekamp, 1961
• Echinostelium minutum De Bary in Rostafinsky, 1874