摘要：Myxomycetes, commonly known as slime molds, are phagotrophic, eukaryotic organisms that exhibit both fungal and protozoan characteristics. They are widely distributed both in temperate and tropical ecoregions, where they usually occur on dead plant substrates, such as bark, twigs, dried leaves, woody vines, and even decayed inflorescences or fruits. Their unique, diverse morphologies and fascinating life strategies make them ideal model organisms to study life processes. However, despite the high potential diversity in tropical systems, little is known about them particularly in archipelagic countries, such as the Philippines. In fact, previous studies on myxomycetes in the Philippines in the late 70s and early 80s by Reynolds encompassed the most comprehensive listing for the country. A total of 107 species were recorded at that time for the Philippines and roughly 50% of these species represented new records for the country. But the paper was mainly an extensive, annotated species listing. In recent years, myxomycete research in the country has progressed beyond species lists to diversity and ecological studies. Several papers by the UST RCNAS Fungal Biodiversity and Systematics group have documented the occurrence and distribution of slime molds in several habitat types, e.g. in forest parks, coastal and inland limestone forests, lowland mountain forests, and from varied substrata – grass litter, aerial and ground leaf litter, twigs, and bark. These studies updated the list of species of myxomycetes in the Philippines to 150. These also provided baseline information on the ecological patterns and geographic distribution of slime molds in the tropics. This paper presents an update on slime mold research in the Philippines for the 35 years following Reynolds’ publication in 1981 and discusses challenges and opportunities for further studies
