Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Steven L. Stephenson (Author), Henry Stempen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2000

This book identifies all the species one is likely to encounter, with extensive information on their structural features, distribution, and ecological associations. Superbly illustrated, including keys, it is an introduction to their biology as well as a field guide.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Profusely illustrated . . . Most readable. -- Plant Talk, April 2000

The aim of this book is to introduce slime moulds to the public and this it does admirably. -- A. Feest, New Phytol, Vol 132 1996

This handbook goes a long way toward revealing the otherworldly beauty of the myxomycetes. -- HortIdeas, March 2000

This handbook should certainly stimulate interest and study of the myxomycetes. -- Vernon Ahmadjian, The Bryologist, Vol 98 1995

Book Description

All the species one is likely to encounter, with extensive information on their structural features, distribution, and ecological associations. Accompanied by superb illustrations.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press (June 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881924393
• ISBN-13: 978-0881924398
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steven L. Stephenson is a research professor at the University of Arkansas, but prior to moving to his current position, he spent 27 years as a professor of biology at Fairmont State College (now University) in West Virginia. He has collected and studied fungi and slime molds from the polar regions to the tropics and on six continents.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Strange as Any Life from Mars Could be!, March 25, 2004

By 

David B Richman (Mesilla Park, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds (Paperback)

The slime molds are generally little noticed, but very strange life forms that could easily fit in a science fiction book. The swarm cells and myxamoebae unite to form first an amoeboid zygote, then the strange, crawling, plasmodium stage, and finally the fungus-like fruiting body. The plasmodia can be (in the case of Fuligo) large yellow pulsating crawling blobs that suddenly appear on people's lawns. Others are less noticeable, but often brightly colored. I have seen one of these plasmodia in my life- a bright pink blob that disappeared into the ground when I raised a rotting log in the Pinaleno Mountains of Arizona. I was certainly startled!

Stephenson and Stempen have written an excellent book on these strange critters in "Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds." It fills a gap in the literature on natural history. It is my hope that more people will be able to appreciate these neat organisms through the descriptions, excellent line drawings and well-rendered color plates.

I will disagree with one reviewer's dislike of the describer's name after the scientific name, however. It is there for the convenience of other taxonomist as least as much as the vanity of the describer. If I know that Physarum nutans was described by Persoon it tells me something about where I should look for the original description and may also give me some idea of when the name probably originated. Also Physarum cinereum (Batsch) Persoon tells me that Batsch wrote the original description, but placed the species in a different genus, which was than changed to the present genus by Persoon. Thus such "vain" additions are often important to other workers in the field.

I do agree with the same reviewer that some further discussion of how slime molds are classified might have helped an otherwise excellent book. However, I am also fully aware that the classification is still in flux and no final answers may yet be possible until DNA studies are done (and maybe not even then!).

Read this book if you find the weirdness of the world fascinating! Better still, use it to find and identify slime molds. Good hunting.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Blob in real life, January 10, 2010

By 

Ashtar Command "Seeker" (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds (Paperback)

Did you know that the classic horror movie "The Blob" is freely based on a true story?

Well, *very* freely...

Slime molds are a curious and often overlooked group of organisms, defying all attempts at classification. Are they fungi? Are they animals? Or something else entirely? Currently, most slime molds are believed to be related to amoebae. But then, what on earth is an amoeba? Previously classified as animals, they are now an independent "kingdom".

Slime molds have a complicated life cycle. Their most notorious phase is the plasmodium, actually a multinucleate cell. The plasmodium is bloblike, slimy and can become quite large (the size, say, of a mushroom). Also, it can move around. Often, the plasmodia are brightly coloured as well. This created quite a panic in a suburb of Dallas, Texas in 1973. The yellow plasmodia of the slime mold species Fuligo septica suddenly appeared on people's lawns, and when blasted with water, broke apart - with the parts continuing to slowly creep around, even getting somewhat bigger! Naturally, people panicked and assumed UFOs had something to do with it. Or had they just been watching "The Blob" too much? Eventually, the plasmodium settles down and becomes a fruiting body with spores. It's this strange life cycle, combining an amoeba-like stage and a fungus-like stage, which has long baffled researchers.

"Myxomycetes" is a good introduction to these organisms. The book is intended as a field guide to 175 species of slime molds found in eastern North America, but since most species are cosmopolitan, the book can probably be used in Europe as well. It should be noted that all illustrations are in black and white. Many of these creatures are extremely small, and found only in decaying wood or litter. Still, it's a pity that no colour plates of the more dramatic species have been included (such as the previously mentioned Fuligo septica).

Apart from the species presentations, "Myxomycetes" contain chapters on how to collect and study slime molds, their geographical distribution, and their ecology. There is also a reference section.

Apparently, slime molds prefer the temperate region, being less abundant in the tropics. They can be found in deserts and in the hills, but they prefer woods where they grow on bark, litter or dung. Some insects have specialized in attacking slime molds, including the slime mold beetles and the slime mold fly (which, however, may help them spread the spores). In the Mexican state of Veracruz, some of the natives actually eat our old friend Fuligo septica! They call it "moon feces", while the preferred English term is "dog vomit".

Personally, I just call it The Blob...

Finally, a word of warning. This is a typical book for nerds. If you don't already have a strong interest in slime molds, fungi or perhaps amoebae, I don't think you will appreciate it. Buy a more popularized book on mushrooms first! However, if you are one of those nature-lovers who just love to poke around in the litter, or look under the bark of trees, "Myxomycetes" might come in handy.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a field guide for a beginner, December 17, 2009

By 

L. Brooks (Panhandle Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds (Paperback)

I was so excited to get this book, to finally be able to put a name to the blobs I'd seen in the woods, but it's promise to me as a field guide did not pan out. Be aware that the only color plates are the front and back covers, at least the one I purchased in December 2009. It is paperback with black and white line drawings of greatly enlarged reproductive structures and black and white photographs of what you'd see under a high-power microscope. There are no color photos of plasmodium, the blob stage that you can see with the naked eye, and scant illustrations of it.

All that said, the illustrations are wonderful and there is good information in the book. Information and species descriptions are presented in a straighforward, factual manner that more advanced students will appreciate. It is not a collection of interesting field anecdotes or stories, though with the peculiarities of this group I did expect that. There is plenty of basis for a creative science writer to expound on these, but alas, my romance with slime was not to be. I'm sure other readers with more patience to figure things out on their own will find the book useful, but I admit I don't have the patience to scan all 54 species descriptions to find what I'm looking for. A key is provided, but it is based on the microscopic fruiting bodies, so for the layman it is useless.

All I want to know is, what was that big neon orange blob I'd seen moving through the woods? I'm sorry to report that the answer escaped me in this book.