Chocolate Tube Slime vs koala

Stemonitis splendens compared with Phascolarctos cinereus

Key Differences

Chocolate Tube Slime is Not Evaluated while koala is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Chocolate Tube Slime	koala
Kingdom	Protozoa (protozoaire)	Animalia (animal)
Phylum	Mycetozoa	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Myxomycetes (Myxomycetes)	Mammalia (mammifères)
Order	Stemonitidales	Diprotodontia (Marsupials)
Family	Stemonitidaceae	Phascolarctidae (Koalas)
Genus	Stemonitis	Phascolarctos (Koalas)
Species	Stemonitis splendens	Phascolarctos cinereus

Conservation Status

Chocolate Tube Slime

NE — Not Evaluated

koala

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~100.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Chocolate Tube Slime	koala
Diet	—	Herbivore
Average Lifespan	—	15 years
Average Length	—	75 cm
Average Weight	—	10.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Chocolate Tube Slime

Habitat

Native to Asia and Europe and North America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (5 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Brazil).

koala

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, forests, and vegetated habitats.

Range

Found in Australia. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Chocolate Tube Slime

The Chocolate Tube Slime Mold (Stemonitis splendens) is a species of myxomycete (plasmodial slime mold) in the family Stemonitidaceae, found worldwide in temperate and tropical regions wherever there is decaying wood, leaf litter, and moist conditions. Stemonitis species are characterised by their elegant, upright, tube-shaped sporangia arranged in dense clusters — the sporangia of S. splendens are typically 10–20 millimetres tall, chocolate-brown to rust-brown in colour, and supported on individual stalks (stipes) arising from a common base. The spore mass within each tube is supported by a fine internal network of threads called the capillitium. Despite resembling plants or fungi, slime molds are protists — during their vegetative phase they exist as a large, multinucleate, mobile plasmodium that engulfs bacteria and fungal spores as it moves through decaying organic material. The plasmodium aggregates and differentiates into fruiting bodies when conditions become unfavourable, releasing millions of wind-dispersed spores. Chocolate Tube Slime Mold is not evaluated by the IUCN; as a cosmopolitan protist, it does not meet criteria for conservation listings. It is a common and iconic subject for amateur naturalists and is frequently photographed on decomposing logs in temperate woodland. Its ecological role in decomposing wood and recycling nutrients is significant.

koala

Iconic marsupial of eastern and southeastern Australia, koalas weigh up to 15 kg and spend up to 22 hours daily sleeping to conserve energy from their low-calorie eucalyptus leaf diet. Highly specialized to process toxic eucalyptus compounds that would kill most other mammals, they have gut microbiomes uniquely adapted for detoxification. Listed as Endangered in 2022, with populations decimated by chlamydia disease, habitat clearing, and climate change.