Editing Slime mold (section)

=== Cellular slime molds: Dictyosteliida ===

{{main|Dictyosteliida}}

The [[Dictyosteliida]] or cellular slime molds do not form huge [[coenocyte]]s like the Myxogastria; their amoebae remain individual for most of their lives as individual unicellular [[protist]]s, feeding on microorganisms. When food is depleted and they are ready to form sporangia, they form swarms. The [[amoeba]]e join up into a tiny multicellular slug which crawls to an open lit place and grows into a fruiting body, a [[sorocarp]]. Some of the amoebae become spores to begin the next generation, but others sacrifice themselves to become a dead stalk, lifting the spores up into the air.<ref name="Jacobson 2012"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kin |first1=K. |last2=Schaap |first2=P. |title=Evolution of Multicellular Complexity in The Dictyostelid Social Amoebas |journal=Genes |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=487 |date=March 2021 |pmid=33801615 |pmc=8067170 |doi=10.3390/genes12040487 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

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File:Dictyostelium discoideum 03.jpg|''[[Dictyostelium discoideum]]'' is a microscopic organism. The cells can aggregate to form a [[Grex (biology)|grex]] or slug, and then to a [[sorocarp]] or fruiting body (shown) on a delicate stalk.
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