Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #361455
Research Project: Develop Pest Management Technologies and Strategies to Control the Coffee Berry Borer

Location: Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory

Title: Mid-Cretaceous cellular slime mold (Eukarya: Dictyostelia?)

Author
item POINAR, GEORGE - Oregon State University
item Vega, Fernando

Submitted to: Protist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/17/2019
Publication Date: 8/23/2019
Citation: Poinar, G., Vega, F.E. 2019. Mid-Cretaceous cellular slime mold (Eukarya: Dictyostelia?). Protist. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2019.1658095.

Interpretive Summary: Two new slime mold species are described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. The Burmese amber fossils, Paleoplastes burmanica gen. et sp. nov. and Pusillocyclops aimei gen. et sp. nov. represent extinct lineages with unique morphological stages. These fossils provide a fleeting glimpse of mid-Cretaceous slime molds and add to our knowledge of the morphological diversity of this fascinating group.

Technical Abstract: A dictyostelid slime mold (Dictyostelia) and an acrasid slime mold (Acrasida) are described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. The dictyostelid specimen, described as Paleoplastes burmanica gen. et sp nov., consists of a clear, acellular plasmodium containing a pseudoplasmodium with an aggregation of myxamoebae that formed a “slug” from which sorocarps have emerged. The sorocarps have produced short chains of small globose to subglobose spores. The acrasid specimen, described as Pusillocyclops aimei gen. et sp. nov., is characterized by a fructification with cellular sporocarps bearing an apical sorus with a single spherical spore. These specimens add to our knowledge of the structure and occurrence of mid-Cretaceous slime molds.