Hypothallus

The hypothallus is a hat-like layer on true slime molds, the myxogastria, on which the fruit body is sitting and which displays the connection of the fruit body to the underground. Roughly translated it means "under the thallus".

The hypothallus is produced by the plasmodium at the beginning of the fructification. Depending on the species, it can be membranous to thick or tender to solid and nearly transparent to radiant coloured. It is either shaped isolated as an edge of single fruit bodies or as a permanent layer, which connects the edges of numerous fruit bodies. In some but rarely cases it is missing entirely.