Editing Slime mold (section)

== Distribution, habitats, and ecology ==

[[File:Sphindus dubius (Gyllenhal, 1808).png|thumb|[[Slime mold beetle]]s such as ''Sphindus dubius'' feed exclusively on slime molds.]]

Slime molds, with their small size and moist surface, live mostly in damp habitats including shaded forests, rotting wood, fallen or living leaves, and on [[bryophyte]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Glimn-Lacy |first1=Janice |last2=Kaufman |first2=Peter B. |title=Botany Illustrated |chapter=Slime Molds |date=2006 |publisher=Springer US |isbn=978-0-387-28870-3 |doi=10.1007/0-387-28875-9_45 |page=45}}</ref><ref name="Ing 1999"/> Most Myxogastria are terrestrial,<ref name="Ing 1999"/> though some, like ''[[Didymium (slime mold)|Didymium]] aquatilis'' are aquatic,<ref name="Lindley Stephenson Spiegel 2007"/><ref name="Hoppe Kutschera 2022">{{cite journal |last1=Hoppe |first1=T. |last2=Kutschera |first2=U. |title=Phenotypic plasticity in plasmodial slime molds and molecular phylogeny of terrestrial vs. aquatic species |journal=Theory in Biosciences |publisher=Springer |volume=141 |issue=3 |date=27 August 2022 |issn=1431-7613 |doi=10.1007/s12064-022-00375-9 |pages=313–319|pmid=36029433 |pmc=9474427 }}</ref> and ''D.&nbsp;nigripes'' is semi-aquatic.<ref name="Hoppe Kutschera 2022"/> Myxogastria are not limited to wet regions; 34 species are known from Saudi Arabia, living on bark, in plant litter, and rotting wood, even in [[desert]]s.<ref name="Ameen Almansob Al-Sabri"/> They occur, too, in Arizona's [[Sonoran Desert]] (46 species), and in Chile's exceptionally dry [[Atacama Desert]] (24 species). In contrast, the semi-dry [[Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve]] has 105 species, and Russia and Kazakhstan's [[Volga]] river basin has 158 species.<ref name="Ameen Almansob Al-Sabri">{{cite journal |last1=Ameen |first1=Fuad |last2=Almansob |first2=Abobakr |last3=Al-Sabri |first3=Ahmed |title=Records of slime molds (Myxomycetes) from deserts and other arid areas of Saudi Arabia |journal=Sydowia |date=2020 |publisher=Verlag Ferdinand Berger & Söhne |issue=72 |issn=0082-0598 |doi=10.12905/0380.sydowia72-2020-0171 |pages=171–177}}</ref> In [[tropical rainforest]]s of Latin America, species such as of ''Arcyria'' and ''Didymium'' are commonly [[epiphyllous]], growing on the leaves of [[Marchantiophyta|liverwort]]s.<ref name="Glime 2019">{{cite book |last=Glime |first=J. M. |year=2019 |chapter=<!--3-4.-->Slime Molds: Ecology and Habitats – Lesser Habitats |title=Bryophyte Ecology |volume=2. Bryological Interaction |publisher=Ebook sponsored by Michigan Technological University and the International Association of Bryologists |url=https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/bryophyte-ecology/}}</ref>

The dictyostelids are mostly terrestrial.<ref name="Spiegel 2004"/> On [[Changbai Mountain]] in China, six species of dictyostelids were found in forest soils at elevations up to {{convert|2038|m|ft|abbr=on}}, the highest recorded species there being ''Dictyostelium mucoroides''.<ref name="Zou Hou Guo Li 2022">{{cite journal |last1=Zou |first1=Yue |last2=Hou |first2=Jiangan |last3=Guo |first3=Songning |last4=Li |first4=Changtian |last5=Li |first5=Zhuang |last6=Stephenson |first6=Steven L. |last7=Pavlov |first7=Igor N. |last8=Liu |first8=Pu |last9=Li |first9=Yu |title=Diversity of Dictyostelid Cellular Slime Molds, Including Two Species New to Science, in Forest Soils of Changbai Mountain, China |journal=Microbiology Spectrum |publisher=American Society for Microbiology |volume=10 |issue=5 |date=26 October 2022 |pages=e0240222 |issn=2165-0497 |doi=10.1128/spectrum.02402-22 |pmid=36190423 |pmc=9620775 }}</ref>
The protostelids live mainly on dead plant matter, where they consume the spores of [[bacteria]], [[yeasts]], and [[fungi]].<ref name="Spiegel 2004">{{cite book |last=Spiegel |first=Frederick W. |title=Biodiversity of fungi: inventory and monitoring methods |url=https://archive.org/details/biodiversityfung00fost |url-access=limited |year=2004 |publisher=Elsevier Academic Press |location=New York |isbn=0125095511 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/biodiversityfung00fost/page/n534 547]–576 |author2=Steven L. Stephenson |author3=Harold W. Keller |author4=Donna L Moore |author5=James C. Cavendar |editor=Gregory M. Mueller |editor2=Gerald F. Bills |editor3=Mercedes S. Foster |chapter=Mycetozoans}}</ref> They include some aquatic species, which live on dead plant parts submerged in ponds.<ref name="Lindley Stephenson Spiegel 2007">{{cite journal |last1=Lindley |first1=Lora A. |last2=Stephenson |first2=Steven L. |last3=Spiegel |first3=Frederick W. |title=Protostelids and myxomycetes isolated from aquatic habitats |journal=Mycologia |date=1 July 2007 |volume=99 |issue=4 |pages=504–509 |doi=10.3852/mycologia.99.4.504 |pmid=18065001}}</ref> Cellular slime molds are most numerous in the tropics, decreasing with [[latitude]], but are [[cosmopolitan distribution|cosmopolitan in distribution]], occurring in soil even in the Arctic and the Antarctic.<ref name="Bonner 2015">{{cite journal |last=Bonner |first=John Tyler |title=The Evolution of Evolution: Seen through the Eyes of a Slime Mold |journal=BioScience |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=65 |issue=12 |date=7 November 2015 |issn=1525-3244 |doi=10.1093/biosci/biv154 |pages=1184–1187|doi-access=free }}</ref> In the Alaskan [[tundra]], the only slime molds are the dictyostelids ''D.&nbsp;mucoroides'' and ''D.&nbsp;sphaerocephalum''.<ref name="Glime 2019"/>

The species of ''Copromyxa'' are [[wikt:coprophilous|coprophilous]], feeding on dung.<ref name="Brown Silberman Spiegel 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Matthew W. |last2=Silberman |first2=Jeffrey D. |last3=Spiegel |first3=Frederick W. |title='Slime Molds' among the Tubulinea (Amoebozoa): Molecular Systematics and Taxonomy of Copromyxa |journal=Protist |volume=162 |issue=2 |year=2011 |issn=1434-4610 |doi=10.1016/j.protis.2010.09.003 |pages=277–287|pmid=21112814 }}</ref>

Some myxogastrians have their spores dispersed by animals. The slime mold fly ''Epicypta testata'' lay its eggs within the spore mass of ''[[Enteridium lycoperdon]]'', which the larvae feed on. These pupate, and the hatching adults carry and disperse spores that have stuck to them.<ref name="Stephenson 2000">{{cite book |last=Stephenson |first=Steven L. |title=Myxomycetes |publisher=Timber Press |publication-place=Portland |date=15 June 2000 |isbn=978-0-88192-439-8 |page=65}}</ref> While various insects consume slime molds, [[Sphindidae]] slime mold beetles, both larvae and adults, exclusively feed on them.<ref name="Li Tihelka Liu 2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Yan-Da |last2=Tihelka |first2=Erik |last3=Liu |first3=Zhen-Hua |last4=Huang |first4=Di-Ying |last5=Cai |first5=Chen-Yang |date=23 November 2021 |title=New mid-Cretaceous cryptic slime mold beetles and the early evolution of Sphindidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) |url=https://arthropod-systematics.arphahub.com/article/72724/ |journal=Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny |volume=79 |pages=587–597 |doi=10.3897/asp.79.e72724 |issn=1864-8312 |doi-access=free}}</ref>