Protostelium

{{Short description|Genus of slime molds}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Protostelium_mycophaga_fruiting_body.jpg

| image_caption = Protostelium mycophaga sporocarps

| taxon = Protostelium

| authority = Olive & Stoianovitch 1960{{cite journal|first1=Lindsay S.|last1=Olive|first2=Carmen|last2=Stoianovitch|title=Two new members of the Acrasiales|journal=Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club|volume=87|issue=1|date=1960|pages=1–20|doi=10.2307/2483057|jstor=2483057}} emend. Spiegel et al. 2017

| parent_authority = Olive & Stoianovitch 1966{{cite journal|first1=Lindsay S.|last1=Olive|first2=Carmen|last2=Stoianovitch|title=Schizoplasmodium, a mycetozoan genus intermediate between Cavostelium and Protostelium; a new order of Mycetozoa|journal=The Journal of Protozoology|date=1 February 1966|volume=13|issue=1|pages=164–171|doi=10.1111/j.1550-7408.1966.tb01887.x|pmid=5330308}}

| grandparent_authority = Olive & Stoianovitch 1966, emend. Shadwick & Spiegel in Adl et al. 2012{{cite journal|first1=Sina M.|last1=Adl|first2=Alastair G. B.|last2=Simpson|first3=Christopher E.|last3=Lane|first4=Julius|last4=Lukeš|first5=David|last5=Bass|first6=Samuel S.|last6=Bowser|first7=Matthew W.|last7=Brown|first8=Fabien|last8=Burki|first9=Micah|last9=Dunthorn|first10=Vladimir|last10=Hampl|first11=Aaron|last11=Heiss|first12=Mona|last12=Hoppenrath|first13=Enrique|last13=Lara|first14=Line|last14=le Gall|first15=Denis H.|last15=Lynn|first16=Hilary|last16=McManus|first17=Edward A. D.|last17=Mitchell|first18=Sharon E.|last18=Mozley-Stanridge|first19=Laura W.|last19=Parfrey|first20=Jan|last20=Pawlowski|first21=Sonja|last21=Rueckert|first22=Laura|last22=Shadwick|first23=Conrad L.|last23=Schoch|first24=Alexey|last24=Smirnov|first25=Frederick W.|last25=Spiegel|title=The Revised Classification of Eukaryotes|journal=The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology|date=28 September 2012|volume=59|issue=2|pages=429–514|doi=10.1111/j.1550-7408.2012.00644.x|doi-access=free|pmc=3483872|pmid=23020233}}

| synonyms =

{{center|Planoprotostelium{{br}}{{au|Olive & Stoianovitch 1971}}{{cite journal|first1=Lindsay S.|last1=Olive|first2=Carmen|last2=Stoianovitch|title=Planoprotostelium, a new genus of protostelids|journal=Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society|volume=87|issue=3|date=1971|pages=115–119|jstor=24334643|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24334643|url-access=subscription}}}}

| type_species = Protostelium mycophaga

| type_species_authority = Olive & Stoianovitch 1960

}}

Protostelium is a genus of protosteloid amoebozoans, i.e., amoebae capable of forming simple fruiting bodies composed of a stalk and a ball of spores.{{cite book|first1=Lindsay S.|last1=Olive|title=The Mycetozoans|isbn=978-0-12-526250-7|doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-526250-7.X5001-7|date=1975|publisher=Academic Press}} It contains numerous species, including P. aurantium, which was initially classified in a different genus Planoprotostelium. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that Planoprotostelium branches from within the genus Protostelium, making them synonyms.{{cite journal|last1=Shadwick|first1=John D. L.|first2=Jeffery D.|last2=Silberman|first3=Frederick W.|last3=Spiegel|title=Variation in the SSUrDNA of the Genus Protostelium Leads to a New Phylogenetic Understanding of the Genus and of the Species Concept for Protostelium mycophaga (Protosteliida, Amoebozoa)|journal=The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology|date=16 October 2017|volume=65|issue=3|pages=331–344|doi=10.1111/jeu.12476}}

The genus is placed in the family Protosteliidae within the monotypic order Protosteliida, which is part of a larger group of amoebozoans known as Variosea.{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1111%2FJEU.12691 | doi=10.1111/JEU.12691 | title=Revisions to the Classification, Nomenclature, and Diversity of Eukaryotes | date=26 September 2018| last1=Adl | first1=Sina M. | last2=Bass | first2=David | last3=Lane | first3=Christopher E. | last4=Lukeš | first4=Julius | last5=Schoch | first5=Conrad L. | last6=Smirnov | first6=Alexey | last7=Agatha | first7=Sabine | last8=Berney | first8=Cedric | last9=Brown | first9=Matthew W. | last10=Burki | first10=Fabien | last11=Cárdenas | first11=Paco | last12=Čepička | first12=Ivan | last13=Chistyakova | first13=Lyudmila | last14=Del Campo | first14=Javier | last15=Dunthorn | first15=Micah | last16=Edvardsen | first16=Bente | last17=Eglit | first17=Yana | last18=Guillou | first18=Laure | last19=Hampl | first19=Vladimír | last20=Heiss | first20=Aaron A. | last21=Hoppenrath | first21=Mona | last22=James | first22=Timothy Y. | last23=Karnkowska | first23=Anna | last24=Karpov | first24=Sergey | last25=Kim | first25=Eunsoo | last26=Kolisko | first26=Martin | last27=Kudryavtsev | first27=Alexander | last28=Lahr | first28=Daniel J.G. | last29=Lara | first29=Enrique | last30=Le Gall | first30=Line | journal=The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology | volume=66 | issue=1 | pages=4–119 | pmid=30257078 | pmc=6492006}}