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Myxozoa (etymology: Greek: μύξα myxa "slime" or "mucus" [2] + thematic vowel o + ζῷον zoon "animal" [3]) is a subphylum of aquatic cnidarian animals – all obligate parasites. It contains the smallest animals ever known to have lived.
Physarum polycephalum, an acellular [1] slime mold or myxomycete popularly known as "the blob", [2] is a protist with diverse cellular forms and broad geographic distribution. The “acellular” moniker derives from the plasmodial stage of the life cycle : the plasmodium is a bright yellow macroscopic multinucleate coenocyte shaped in a ...
Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries described numerous slime moulds as Myxogasteres in 1829. [5] Species in the class Myxogastria are colloquially known as plasmodial or acellular slime moulds. Some consider the Myxogastria a separate kingdom , with an unsettled phylogeny because of conflicting molecular and developmental data.
Slime molds contribute to the decomposition of dead vegetation; some are parasitic. Most slime molds are terrestrial and free-living, typically in damp shady habitats such as in or on the surface of rotting wood. Some myxogastrians and protostelians are aquatic or semi-aquatic. The phytomyxea are parasitic, living inside their plant hosts.
The term plasmodium, introduced by Leon Cienkowski, [2] usually refers to the feeding stage of slime molds; these are macroscopic mycetozoans. [3]The multinucleate developmental stages of some intracellular parasites, namely Microsporidia (now in Fungi) and Myxosporidia (now in Cnidaria), former cnidosporans, are also sometimes called plasmodia.
Parasites can provide information about host population ecology. In fisheries biology, for example, parasite communities can be used to distinguish distinct populations of the same fish species co-inhabiting a region. [9] Additionally, parasites possess a variety of specialized traits and life-history strategies that enable them to colonize hosts.
The parasite eggs are passed with the feces of the host, which then are eaten by a terrestrial snail (first intermediate host). The fluke matures into a juvenile stage in the snail, which in an attempt to protect itself excretes the parasites in "slime-balls". The "slime-balls" are then consumed by ants (second intermediate hosts).
This is a list of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd-edition monsters, an important element of that role-playing game. [1] [2] [3] This list only includes monsters from official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition supplements published by TSR, Inc. or Wizards of the Coast, not licensed or unlicensed third-party products such as video games or unlicensed Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition ...