False Puffball Slime Mold – 8/13/20

Observer: Rita Corey

Observation Date: 8/13/20

Observation Time: 2:45 p.m.

Observation Location: Rattlesnake Hill

Common Name: False Puffball Slime Mold

Scientific Name: Enteridium lycoperdon

Comments: Slime molds are neither plants nor animals. They are members of the phylum Amoebozoa, and are related to amoeba. Slime molds are aggregates of single-celled organisms. Some kinds of slime molds can grow up to 9 feet long! Slime molds typically aggregate to form a plasmodium — a multinucleate mass of undifferentiated cells that may move in an ameboid-like fashion during the search for nutrients. Slime molds are examples of cellular communication and differentiation, and may provide insights into how multicellular organisms develop.

E. lycoperdon is named “caca de luna” or “Moon’s excrement” by the locals in the state of Veracruz in Mexico.

More Information: Wikipedia

On the intelligence of slime molds: https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/thinking-without-a-brain/