A contemporary evaluation of the acrasids (Acrasidae, Heterolobosea, Excavata)

Sorocarpic protists are organisms that individually aggregate and work together to form a fungus-like fruiting body (sorocarp). The amoeboid forms are often colloquially referred to as “cellular slime molds” or “acrasids”. We argue the latter term should be used only to refer to members of Acrasidae in Heterolobosea. Here we study the diversity of two Acrasidae genera, Acrasis and the closely similar Pocheina, using a combination of morphological characteristics and small subunit rRNA gene sequences. A total of eight isolates of Acrasis and an example of Pocheina were examined. Acrasis/Pocheina form a well-supported monophyletic group that is the highly supported sister to a clade containing Allovahlkampfia and several other amoebae. Four molecular lineages of Acrasis were resolved, each of which is characterized by a distinctive fruiting body morphology. Each lineage represents a species, two of which are novel, Acrasis kona n. sp. and Acrasis takarsan n. sp. An isolate identified as Pocheina rosea is nested within the clade containing isolates of the taxon Acrasis rosea, into which P. rosea is tentatively subsumed. One member of the tightly knit allovahlkampfid clade was induced to form a simple sorocarp, leading us to include this clade in Acrasidae.