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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Protist. 2017 Apr 12;168(3):311–325. doi: 10.1016/j.protis.2017.04.001

Figure 1.

Figure 1

The multicellular development of dictyostelids. Dictyostelids emerge from spores as motile phagocytic myxamoebae and feed on bacterial lawns. Starvation triggers a developmental program, which can be exhibited as morphologically staged rings. Myxamoebae nearest the pristine bacterial lawn (the feeding front) have not entered the developmental pathway. Loose aggregations of myxamoebae proceed to tighter formations including “Mexican hats”. Eventually slugs form, migrate, and produce fruiting bodies. Similar but not identical patterns are common to all dictyostelid species of group 4.