''Stemonitis'' is a distinctive
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of
slime mould
Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to several kinds of unrelated eukaryotic organisms with a life cycle that includes a free-living single-celled stage and the formation of spores. Spores are often produced in macroscopic mu ...
s found throughout the world (except
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
). They are characterised by the tall brown
sporangia
A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cyc ...
, supported on slender stalks, which grow in clusters on rotting
wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
. The genus was first described by German botanist
Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch in 1753. A 2014 estimate suggests that there are 18 species in the genus.
Identification within the genus is difficult, and can only be performed with confidence using a
microscope
A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisi ...
or by
DNA sequencing. A fossil specimen (in
Burmese amber
Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...
) is known from the mid-
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
(99 ma).
Species
The following species are accepted by ''Species Fungorum'':
*''
Stemonitis axifera''
(Bull.) T.Macbr. (1889)
*''
Stemonitis farrensis''
T. N. Lakh. & Mukerji (1977)
*''
Stemonitis ferruginea''
Ehrenb. (1818)
*''
Stemonitis flavogenita''
E. Jahn (1904)
*''
Stemonitis foliicola''
Ing (1967)
*''
Stemonitis fusca
''Stemonitis fusca'' is a species of slime mold. It fruits in clusters on dead wood and has distinctive tall brown sporangia
A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single ...
''
Roth (1787)
*''
Stemonitis graciliformis''
Nann.-Bremek., Mukerji & Pasricha (1984)
*''
Stemonitis herbatica''
Peck (1874)
*''
Stemonitis inconspicua''
Nann.-Bremek. (1966)
*''
Stemonitis laxifila''
Nann.-Bremek. & Y. Yamam. (1988)
*''
Stemonitis lignicola''
Nann.-Bremek. (1973)
*''
Stemonitis marjana''
Y. Yamam. (2000)
*''
Stemonitis mediterraneensis''
H.H. Doğan & Eroğlu (2014)
*''
Stemonitis mussooriensis''
G. W. Martin, K. S. Thind & Sohi (1957)
*''
Stemonitis nigrescens''
Rex (1891)
*''
Stemonitis pallida''
Wingate (1899)
*''
Stemonitis rhizoideipes''
Nann.-Bremek., R. Sharma & K. S. Thind (1984)
*''
Stemonitis smithii''
T.Macbr. (1893)
*''
Stemonitis splendens''
Rostaf. (1875)
*''
Stemonitis virginiensis''
Rex (1891)
References
External links
*
Myxogastria
Amoebozoa genera
{{Amoebozoa-stub