Echinostelium
Encyclopedia
Echinostelium is a genus of slime mould, and the only genus in the family Echinosteliaceae, or Echinosteliidae. It was discovered by Heinrich Anton de Bary in 1855, apparently near Frankfurt am Main. It has an "apogamic" life cycle; only minute plasmodia are produced, which have never been seen to undergo sexual fusion. The plasmodium can divide vegetatively
Vegetative reproduction
Vegetative reproduction is a form of asexual reproduction in plants. It is a process by which new individuals arise without production of seeds or spores...

, in a process called plasmotomy, to distinguish it from true cell division
Cell division
Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells . Cell division is usually a small segment of a larger cell cycle. This type of cell division in eukaryotes is known as mitosis, and leaves the daughter cell capable of dividing again. The corresponding sort...

. The genus Echinostelium comprises at least five species:
  • 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
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