Editing Slime mold (section)

=== Taxonomic history ===

[[File:Lycogala epidendrum - Pink and brown slime molds.jpg|thumb|''[[Lycogala epidendrum]]'' was the first slime mold to be discussed scientifically, by Thomas Panckow in 1654.<ref name="Alexopoulos 1996 p776"/>]]

The first account of slime molds was {{ill|Thomas Panckow|de}}'s 1654 discussion of ''[[Lycogala epidendrum]]''. He called it {{lang|la|Fungus cito crescentes}}, "a fast-growing fungus".<ref>{{cite book |last=Panckow |first=Thomas |title=Herbarium Portatile, Oder Behendes Kräuter und GewächsBuch |location=Berlin |date=1654 |url=http://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht?PPN=PPN727499793&PHYSID=PHYS_0001&DMDID=DMDLOG_0001}}</ref><ref name="Alexopoulos 1996 p776">{{cite book |last1=Alexopoulos |first1=Constantine J. |author-link=Constantine John Alexopoulos |last2=Mims |first2=Charles W. |last3=Blackwell |first3=Meredith M. |date=1996 |title=Introductory Mycology |location=New York |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |edition=4th |page=776 |isbn=978-0-471-52229-4}}</ref>

German mycologist [[Heinrich Anton de Bary]], in 1860 and 1887, classified the [[Mycetozoa|Myxomycetes]] (plasmodial slime molds) and [[Acrasieae]] (cellular slime molds) as Mycetozoa, a new class. He also introduced a "Doubtful Mycetozoa" section for ''[[Plasmodiophora]]'' (now in [[Phytomyxea]]) and ''[[Labyrinthula]]'', emphasizing their distinction from plants and fungi.<ref name="de Bary 1860">{{cite journal |last=de Bary |first=A. |title=XXV.—''On the'' Mycetozoa |journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |volume=5 |issue=28 |year=1860 |issn=0374-5481 |doi=10.1080/00222936008697211 |pages=233–243}}</ref><ref name="Olive 1975"/> In 1880, the French botanist [[Philippe Édouard Léon Van Tieghem|Philippe van Tieghem]] analyzed the two groups further.<ref name="Olive 1975">{{cite book |last1=Olive |first1=Lindsay S. |last2=Stoianovitch |first2=Carmen (technical assistance) |title=The Mycetozoans |date=1975 |publisher=[[Academic Press]] |isbn=978-0-1252-6250-7 |pages=1–7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvrwBR51rIcC&dq=Gymnomycota&pg=PP1}}</ref> 

In 1868, the German biologist [[Ernst Haeckel]] placed the Mycetozoa in a kingdom he named [[Protist]]a.<ref name="Olive 1975"/> In 1885, the British zoologist [[Ray Lankester]] grouped the Mycetozoa alongside the [[Proteomyxa]] as part of the Gymnomyxa in the phylum [[Protozoa]].<ref name="Olive 1975"/> [[Arthur Lister|Arthur]] and [[Gulielma Lister]] published monographs of the group in 1894, 1911, and 1925.<ref name="Lister Lister 1911">{{cite book |last1=Lister |first1=Arthur |last2=Lister |first2=Gulielma |title=A monograph of the Mycetozoa : a descriptive catalogue of the species in the Herbarium of the British Museum |publisher=Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum |publication-place=London |year=1911 |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.21191 |page=}}</ref><ref name="Schnittler Mitchell 2001"/>

In 1932 and 1960, the American mycologist [[George Willard Martin]] argued that the slime molds evolved from fungi.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Martin |first=G. W. |author-link=George Willard Martin |title=Systematic Position of the Slime Molds and Its Bearing on the Classification of the Fungi |journal=Botanical Gazette |volume=93 |issue=4 |year=1932 |pages=421–335 |doi=10.1086/334272 |jstor=2471449|s2cid=84506715 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Martin |first=G. W. |author-link=George Willard Martin |title=The Systematic Position of the Myxomycetes |journal=Mycologia |volume=93 |issue=4 |year=1932 |pages=119–129 |doi=10.2307/3756254 |jstor=3756254}}</ref> In 1956, the American biologist [[Herbert Copeland (biologist)|Herbert Copeland]] placed the Mycetozoa (the myxomycetes and plasmodiophorids) and the Sarkodina (the labyrinthulids and the cellular slime molds) in a phylum called Protoplasta, which he placed alongside the fungi and the [[algae]] in a new kingdom, Protoctista.<ref name="Olive 1975"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Copeland |first=H. F. |author-link=Herbert Copeland (biologist) |year=1956 |title=The Classification of Lower Organisms |publisher=Pacific Books |location=Palo Alto, California}}</ref>

In 1969, the taxonomist [[Robert Whittaker (ecologist)|R. H. Whittaker]] observed that slime molds were highly conspicuous and distinct within the Fungi, the group to which they were then classified. He concurred with Lindsay S. Olive's proposal to reclassify the Gymnomycota, which includes slime molds, as part of the Protista.<ref name="Whittaker 1969 p. 857">{{cite journal |last=Whittaker |first=R. H. |author-link=Robert Whittaker (ecologist) |title=Response: Reassignment of Gymnomycota |journal=Science |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |volume=164 |issue=3881 |date=16 May 1969 |issn=0036-8075 |doi=10.1126/science.164.3881.857.b |pages=857|s2cid=239845755 }}</ref> Whittaker placed three phyla, namely the Myxomycota, Acrasiomycota, and Labyrinthulomycota in a subkingdom Gymnomycota within the Fungi.<ref name="Olive 1975"/> The same year, Martin and Alexopoulos published their influential textbook ''The Myxomycetes''.<ref name="Schnittler Mitchell 2001"/>

In 1975, Olive distinguished the [[dictyostelid]]s and the [[Acrasidae|acrasids]] as separate groups.<ref name="Olive 1975"/> In 1992, [[David J. Patterson]] and M. L. Sogin proposed that the dictyostelids diverged before plants, animals, and fungi.<ref name="Patterson Sogin 1992">{{cite book |last1=Patterson |first1=D. J. |last2=Sogin |first2=M. L. |chapter=Eukaryote origins and protistan diversity |title=The origin and evolution of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells |location=New Jersey |publisher=World Scientific |year=1992 |pages=13–46 |isbn=978-9-8102-1262-9}}</ref>