| Stemonitis Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Stemonitis fusca or similar species in the White Mountain National Forest | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Clade: | Amorphea |
| Phylum: | Amoebozoa |
| Class: | Myxogastria |
| Order: | Stemonitidales |
| Family: | Stemonitidaceae |
| Genus: | Stemonitis Gled. [1] |
| Type species | |
| Stemonitis fusca | |
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]
