canopy which reduces phototaxis, light winds, poor soils, natural enemies and heavy rainfall which can wash away or destroy cells. Species living in soil or deadwood decrease as humidity increases. In a study from Costa Rica, 73% of the total findings were in the relatively dry Tropical Moist Forest, while 18% were in the very moist Tropical Premontane Wet Forests and only 9% in Lower Premontane Rain Forest. In the Antarctic, species were found in the South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula. Species from the Antarctic or subantarctic regions are rarer than specimens in the Arctic regions, although lack of access may be a factor. Until 1983, only 5 records were made, with only individual finds since then. According to two studies of the myxomycete flora of these regions, more species were discovered in the subantarctic forests, for example 67 species in Argentinian Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, and 22 on high ground on Macquarie Island. Habitats The majority of Myxogastria species live terrestrially in open forests. The most important microhabitat is deadwood, but also the bark of living trees (corticolous myxomycetes), rotting plant material, soil, and animal excrements. Slime moulds may be found in numerous unusual locations. The comprehensive group of the nivicol Myxogastria populate closed snow blankets, to quickly fructificate at exposure – for example during thaws – and release their spores. Other habitats are deserts – 33 species were found in the Sonora desert, for example – or living on leaves from plants in the tropics. Some species live in aquatic environments, such as those of the genera Didymium, Physarum, Perichaena, Fuligo, Comatricha and Licea, which were found living underwater as myxoflagelletes and plasmodia. All but one species, Didymium difforme, fructificated only when the water ebbed or when they left it. Relationship to other creatures The relationships of the Myxogastria to other creatures have not been thoroughly researched as of 2012. Their natural predators include many arthropods, including mites and springtails, and especially beetles such as the rove beetles, round fungus beetles, wrinkled bark beetles, Eucinetidae, Clambidae, Eucnemidae (false click beetles), Sphindidae, Cerylonidae, and minute brown scavenger beetles. Various Nematodes have also been observed to be their predators; they attach their posterior portion on the cytosol of the plasmodia or even live within the strands. Certain Diptera species have evolved to specialise in this way: these are mostly representatives of the