the major aspects of the species' presence. endemism is rare. in the northern areas, the species can be found in alaska, iceland, northern scandinavia, greenland and russia. these are not only particular, specialised species; according to an overview study, more than 150 species were found in the arctic and subarctic regions of iceland, greenland, northern russia and alaska. these distinctly exceed the tree line. in greenland, the habitat may reach the 77th latitude line. the myxogastria species reach their largest biodiversity and highest frequency in forests of temperate regions, which are ideal habitats because of the amount of rich organic material, suitable humidity (not too high) and long-lasting snow cover for snow-inhabiting species. few myxogastria species are found in the tropics and subtropics, mainly because of the high humidity which prevents the necessary dehydration of the fruit bodies to permit spore dispersal and promotes infestation by moulds. other factors are low light levels under the forest canopy which reduces phototaxis, light winds, poor soils, natural enemies and heavy rainfall which can wash away or destroy cells. species living in soil or deadwood decrease as humidity increases. in a study from costa rica, 73% of the total findings were in the relatively dry tropical moist forest, while 18% were in the very moist tropical premontane wet forests and only 9% in lower premontane rain forest. in the antarctic, species were found in the south shetland islands, south orkney islands, south georgia and the antarctic peninsula. species from the antarctic or subantarctic regions are rarer than specimens in the arctic regions, although lack of access may be a factor. until 1983, only 5 records were made, with only individual finds since then. according to two studies of the myxomycete flora of these regions, more species were discovered in the subantarctic forests, for example 67 species in argentinian patagonia and tierra del fuego, and 22 on high ground on macquarie island. habitats trichia decipiens (trichiales, orange sporangia), with mosses, fungi and plants on deadwood the majority of myxogastria species live terrestrially in open forests. the most important microhabitat is deadwood, but also the bark of living trees (corticolous myxomycetes), rotting plant material, soil, and animal excrements. slime moulds may be found in numerous unusual locations. the comprehensive group of the nivicol myxogastria populate closed snow blankets, to quickly fructificate at exposure – for example during thaws – and release their spores. other habitats are deserts – 33 species were found in the sonora desert, for example – or living on leaves from plants in the tropics. some species live in aquatic environments, such as those of the genera didymium, physarum, perichaena, fuligo, comatricha and licea, which were found living underwater as myxoflagelletes and plasmodia. all but one species, didymium difforme, fructificated only when the water ebbed or when they left it. relationship to other creatures agathidium mandibulare, a natural enemy of myxogastria the relationships of the myxogastria to other creatures have not been thoroughly researched as of 2012. their natural predators include many arthropods, including mites and springtails, and especially beetles such as the rove beetles,: 304 round fungus beetles,: 269 wrinkled bark beetles,: 174 eucinetidae,: 433 clambidae,: 438 eucnemidae (false click beetles),: 61 sphindidae,: 300 cerylonidae,: 424 and minute brown scavenger beetles.: 483 various nematodes have also been observed to be their predators; they attach their posterior portion on the cytosol of the plasmodia or even live within the strands. certain diptera species have evolved to specialise in this way: these are mostly representatives of the mycetophilidae, sciaridae and drosophilidae. the species epicypta testata was especially frequently found, especially on enteridium lycoperdon, enteridium splendens, lycogala epidendrum, and tubifera ferruginosa. some true fungi specialise in the colonisation of the myxogastriae: almost all of these are species of sac fungi. the most common such fungus is verticillium rexianum – mainly species from comatricha or stemonitis. gliocladium album and sesquicillium microsporum are often found on physaridae, while polycephalomyces tomentosus is often found on certain species of trichiidae. nectriopsis violacea specialises on fuligo septica. bacterial associates, mainly from the family enterobacteriaceae, were discovered on plasmodia. the combination of plasmodia and bacteria can bind atmospheric nitrogen or produce enzymes which make possible the decomposition of e.g. lignin, carboxymethylcellulose, or xylan. in a few cases, the plasmodia acquired salt tolerance or tolerance of heavy metals through this association. some myxomycetes (physarum) cause disease in plants such as turfgrasses, but no control is usually necessary against them. fossil records fossil records of myxogastria are extremely rare. due to their short lifespan and the fragile structures of the plasmodia and the fruit body, fossilisation and similar processes are not possible. only their spores can be mineralised. the few known examples of fossilised living states are preserved in amber. as of 2010 three fruit bodies, two spores and one plasmodium have been described. two older taxa – charles eugène bertrand's myxomycetes mangini and bretonia hardingheni from 1892 – are now considered dubious and are today often disregarded. friedrich walter domke described in 1952 a 35 to 40 million year old find in baltic amber of stemonitis splendens, an extant species. the state and completeness of the fruit bodies are remarkable, enabling accurate determination. from the same period, location and material is an arcyria sulcata, first described in 2003 by heinrich dörfelt and alexander schmidt, a species very similar to today's arcyria denudata. both discoveries imply that the fruit bodies of the myxogastria have changed only slightly in the last 35–40 million years. however, the protophysarum balticum from baltic amber, first described by dörfelt and schmidt in 2006, is considered questionable. the fossil was inconsistent with the typical characteristics of the genus and it was not a valid publication because no latin name was identified with it. also, important details of its fruit bodies were not visible or contradicted the identification. today it is assumed that the fossil belongs to a lichen similar to the genus chaenotheca. the only known discovery of a preserved plasmodium was found in dominican amber, and was then grouped into the physarida. however, this claim is also considered doubtful as the publication was later classified as insufficient due to lack of evidence. in 2019 sporocarps belonging to stemonitis was described from burmese amber, considered to be of a mid-cretaceous age around 99 million years old. the sporocarps are indistinguishable from extant taxa, suggesting a long morphological stasis. the only known mineralised fossils are the two spore findings from 1971, one of which, trichia favoginea, is assumed to be from the postglacial period. in palynologian researches, by absorbing myxogastria spores, the fossil was not recognised. history of research because of their unprepossessing nature, the myxogastriae were for a long time not well researched. thomas panckow first named the mould lycogala epidendrum as "fungus cito crescentes" (fast-growing fungus) in his 1654 book herbarium portatile, oder behendes kräuter- und gewächsbuch. in 1729, pier antonio micheli thought that fungi are different from moulds, and heinrich friedrich link agreed with this hypothesis in 1833. elias magnus fries documented the plasmodial stage in 1829, and 35 years later anton de bary observed the germination of the spores. de bary also discovered the cyclosis in the cell for the movement, he saw them as animal-like creatures and reclassified them as mycetozoa, which literally translates "fungus animals". this interpretation prevailed until the second half of the 20th century. from 1874 to 1876, józef tomasz rostafiński, a student of anton de bary, published the first extensive monograph on the group. three monographs by arthur lister and guilielma lister were published in 1894, 1911, and 1925. these were groundbreaking works about the myxogastria, as was the 1934 book the myxomycetes by thomas h. macbride and george willard martin. important works in the late 20th century were the 1969 monographs by george willard martin and constantine john alexopoulos, and the 1975 monograph by lindsay shepherd olive. the first is perhaps the most notable, as with it "the modern era of the taxonomy of the myxogastria began". other notable researchers were persoon, rostafinski, lister, macbridge, and martin and alexopoulos, who discovered and classified many species. notes in addition to the monographs dealing with the group worldwide, some local populations are also important, especially since the group has significantly less regional variation, due to its erratic method of wide dispersion. for example, r. hagelstein (1944) the mycetozoa of north america, and m. farr's volume (1973) for the flora neotropica series are important regional descriptions. other, more recent regional publications are bruce ing's the myxomycetes of britain and ireland, l. band & p. band (1997) flora mycologica iberica, and yamamoto (1998) the myxomycete biota of japan. the three-volume work die myxomyceten deutschlands und des angrenzenden alpenraumes unter besonderer berücksichtigung österreichs (the myxomyceta of germany and bordering alpine regions, with special consideration of austria) was written from 1993 to 2000 by h. neubert, w. nowotny, and k. baumann, which self-published. although academically they were amateurs, their work was well received by scholars, and has become a frequently-cited standard work.