Stemonitis Temporal range:
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Stemonitis fusca or similar species in the White Mountain National Forest | |
Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Phylum: | Amoebozoa |
Class: | Myxogastria |
Order: | Stemonitidales |
Family: | Stemonitidaceae |
Genus: |
Stemonitis Gled. [1] |
Type species | |
Stemonitis fusca |
Stemonitis is a distinctive genus of slime moulds found throughout the world (except Antarctica). They are characterised by the tall brown sporangia, supported on slender stalks, which grow in clusters on rotting wood. [2] 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. [3] Identification within the genus is difficult, and can only be performed with confidence using a microscope or by DNA sequencing. A fossil specimen (in Burmese amber) is known from the mid- Cretaceous (99 ma). [4]
The following species are accepted by Species Fungorum: [5]