Stemonitis
Stemonitis
Genus of slime moulds
Stemonitis is a distinctive genus of slime moulds found throughout the world (except Antarctica). They are characterised by the tall brown sporangia, supported on slender stalks, which grow in clusters on rotting wood.[2] The genus was first described by German botanist Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch in 1753. A 2014 estimate suggests that there are 18 species in the genus.[3] Identification within the genus is difficult, and can only be performed with confidence using a microscope or by DNA sequencing. A fossil specimen (in Burmese amber) is known from the mid-Cretaceous (99 ma).[4]