I only "discovered" these stunningly beautiful and tiny organisms in 2018. They range in size from less than 1mm to about 5mm. At first sight, they look like some form of fungus. But slime molds (aka protists) are off in an evolutionary corner of their own.

This slime mold colony creates a lovely pattern on the forest floor. Virginia.

Slime molds are sometimes brought into classrooms as a curiosity, fed on oatmeal, and presented with problems they need to solve to obtain food. It is possible to culture them at home, but I have not tried this.

I look for slime molds on the sides of rotting logs, in leaf litter, and among mosses. They prefer damp, poorly lit areas and are found worldwide in both tropical and temperate areas where there is plenty of moisture. I believe these are mature Lycogala epidendrum. Virginia.

I believe these are mature fruiting bodies and have reached the point where they will open and release spores. Virginia.

Mature slime molds hanging from the underside of a log.

I don’t have the patience to do this and create my images in the field using a single exposure.

Iridescent fruiting bodies on a blackberry slime mold. Found in Virginia.

Another mature Costa Rican specimen. I love the colors!

Mature slime molds.

Even a slime mold that is decaying has a fascinating form!

This colony looks like a tiny forest in white.

Desiccated slime mold on a tree stump. Virginia.

A natural crack in a tree offers the damper, darker habitat preferred by slime molds.

There are multiple species of slime mold; their physical shape and color can change dramatically as they grow and reproduce. I don't fully understand their alternative lifestyle and suspect it would be too complicated to explain here, even if I did. I found this colony in Virginia.

In the tree of life, slime molds are not animals, plants, or fungi but protists and are in their own taxonomic corner. There are about 700 species. It seems unlikely that more than a few scientists seriously study them.

While the biology of slime molds is fascinating, my interest is in the beauty of these tiny and little-known organisms.

In the USA, this slime mold species is commonly known as "wolf's milk". The proper name is Lycogala epidendrum. Virginia.

It should be easier to photograph a slime mold than an insect due to its lack of wings and legs. But slime molds are small and often prefer inconvenient locations such as the underside of logs.

Photographers may also use multiple exposures to create images of these tiny subjects and then "stack" the frames. Alison Pollack and Barry Webb are two who produce stunning close-up images using this technique.

More chocolate tube slime and what looks like a tiny fungus beetle. It's not unusual to find insects feeding or hiding in slime molds, and there are several buried in the photos on this page.

I found this one in Costa Rica.

The fruiting body of this slime mold has done its job and is decaying.

These fresh-looking and unidentified specimens have a subtle color.

This page is probably best viewed on a laptop where it is possible to enlarge the images easily. The slime mold in this image is from Costa Rica.

While these remind me of corals.

A cluster of tiny slime molds. Pinch or zoom for detail.

Another blackberry slime mold. Virginia.

Slime mold fruiting bodies line the edge of a decaying leaf. Virginia.

Wikipedia defines slime mold as "unrelated eukaryotic organisms that can live freely as single cells but can aggregate together to form multicellular reproductive structures." Slime mold can apparently only move during one phase of its life. In a lab, they have been shown to navigate through a maze in search of food. BTW, the body of the tiny cricket nymph in this photo was about 3/16".

This tiny insect is feeding among the slime molds. It is likely an aphid of some kind.

A single fruiting body may be only a millimeter tall, but a colony of a single species can be inches or even feet in width. Virginia.

Some photographers add extension tubes or a Raynox 150 to their macro lens to magnify the image when photographing slime molds. A side effect is shallow DoF (translated: a very thin area that is in sharp focus). Virginia.

Stacking a hundred-plus images allows the viewer to see a single fruiting body in great detail. To do this, one typically needs to bring the slime mold out of the forest and into a studio environment, use a macro rail, and apply extreme magnification. This allows the photographer to create large numbers of images at fractionally staggered focus points. Serious computer time is then needed to merge the raw photos into a single image.

I love the lemon yellow!

And this one...

This slime mold was in Virginia and is Stemonitis splendens. It is commonly known as chocolate tube slime.

The brown cauliflower-like object is a mature slime mold and the tiny insect is a springtail (Collembola). The insect is probably about 2mm -- not counting headgear. Found in Costa Rica.

This one is also from Costa Rica.

I found thousands of slime mold fruiting bodies lining the interior of a hollow tree stump in the Shenandoah National Park.

Commonly known as blackberry slime mold. Virginia.