Clark J, Haskins EF 2013 -The nuclear reproductive cycle in the myxomycetes: a review. Mycosphere 4(2), 233-248, Doi 10.5943/mycosphere/4/2/6Our understanding of the taxonomy, ecology and population biology of myxomycetes has been enhanced by investigations of the nuclear reproductive cycle of taxa in this group. These studies have involved light microscopy, electron microscopy, DNA cytophotometric reports and genetic investigations. Heterothallism with its associated life cycle events of syngamy and meiosis is extensively reviewed as revealed by light microscopy, genetics and DNA spectrophotometric analysis of nuclear ploidy levels. Non-heterothallism, i.e., homothallism and apogamy, specifically automixis and its genetical and evolutionary significance is discussed. Nuclear division, chromosomal number and polyploidy in the myxomycetes is also detailed.

Since the sporophores of the myxomycetes are the primary basis of taxonomy in the myxomycetes, an understanding of the development and range of variations of the various morphological structures is essential to constructing a valid system. A review of the morphology of the stipe, peridium, capillitium, and spores and their developmental aspects was undertaken and the resulting morphological hypotheses tested against recent advancements in DNA phylogeny, isozyme and DNA population, and genetic reproduction studies.

Haskins EF, Clark J 2016 -A guide to the biology and taxonomy of the Echinosteliales. Mycosphere 7(4), 473-491, Doi 10.5943/mycosphere/7/4/7 AbstractThis guide is an attempt to consolidate all information concerning the biology of the Echinosteliales, including uniform species descriptions for all of the species, and to make this available to interested persons in an open access journal. The Echinosteliales are a small group of myxomycetes with relatively minute sporangia and a unique plasmodial trophic stage (a protoplasmodium). These protoplasmodia, which are a defining characteristic of the order, are relatively small (20-150 μm in diameter) amoeboid stages with sluggish protoplasmic streaming and plasmodial movement which, as far as it is known, do not form a reticulum or undergo fusion with other plasmodia, but do undergo binary plasmotomy after reaching an upper size limit with each plasmodium produces a single sporangium. The minute sporangia produce a relatively limited number of spores and, except for one stalk-less species, they have a distinctive stalk consisting of a fibrillose tube having amorphous material in the lower region and closing at the upper end to produce a solid region. This morphology, along with developmental and DNA studies indicate that this order is probably the evolutionary basal group of the dark-spored myxomycetes.Key words -amoeboflagellate -Barbeyella -Clastoderma -Echinostelium -plasmodiumSemimorula -sporangia IntroductionThe minute sporangia of Echinostelium minutum, Clastoderma debaryanum and Barbeyella minutissima were discovered and named between 1874 and 1914. However, they were seldom collected and little was known of their developmental history except for Guliema Lister's early studies on spore germination, swarm cells and dividing myxamoebae; see Haskins (1988) for a discussion of her workbooks. However, it was the culture studies of Alexopoulos (1960), Olive (1960), and McManus (1961) that determined their basic biology and stimulated the search for additional species; with the descriptions of thirteen new Echinostelium species, two new Clastoderma species, and a new genus and species Semimorula liquescens (Haskins et al. 1983). The Echinosteliales are a relatively small order of myxomycetes with minute sporophores, that are generally designated sporocarps (produce internal spores) and they have a distinctive shape and size and are therefore sporangia. These sporangia, except for their minute size, are similar in structure and form to the vast majority of the sporocarps of the other orders of myxomycetes. Sporangia normally consist of two parts − the sporotheca which contains the spores, and the stipe which lifts the sporotheca off of the substrate (presumably for better spore dispersal). The stipe, which is present in all but one species in the order, consists of three continuous regions: the