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'''slime mould''' ([[Category:Noun]][[:Category:Noun|noun]], ''pl.'' slime moulds; ''American spelling:'' ''sl.'' [[slime mold]]) – one of several main types of [[cell organization]]: an aggregate of [[amoebae]], either forming one large, a naked mass of protoplasm containing several cell [[nuclei]] ([[plasmodioid]]; [[plasmodiophoromycota]]; [[myxomycota]]), or, [[multicellular]] as a naked mass of fused amoeboid cells (''cellular slime moulds''; [[acrasioid]]; [[acrasiomycota]]; [[dictosteliomycota]]), or, multicellular as a net of [[ectoplasmic]] [[filament]]s inhabited by cells (''net slime moulds:'' [[labyrinthuloid]]). Although they appear similar to fungi by feeding on dead organic matter, slime moulds are not related to the true fungi ([[Fungi]] [[s. str.]]; [[Eumycota]]). Unlike ''true'' fungi, slime mould ingest their food by [[phagocytosis]]. In contrast, the Fungi digest their food by absorption. Most slime moulds are now treated as separate phyla of the [[protozoa]]; the net slime moulds are part of [[chromista]]. ''Kind of:'' [[Category:Cell organization-type]][[:Category:Cell organization-type|cell organization-type]].

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