Myxogastrid

Nomenclature

Myxomycota, now considered a synonym of Myxogastria, comes from the Ancient Greek words μύξαmyxa, which means "mucus", and μύκηςmykes, which means "fungus". The name Myxogastria was introduced in 1970 by Lindsay Shepherd Olive to describe the family Myxogastridae, which was introduced in 1899 by Thomas Huston Macbride. Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries described numerous slime moulds as Myxogasteres in 1829. Species in the class Myxogastria are colloquially known as plasmodial or acellular slime moulds. Some consider the Myxogastria a separate kingdom, with an unsettled phylogeny because of conflicting molecular and developmental data. The relations among myxogastrid orders are as yet unclear.