Ar.chan' gi.um. Gr. fem. n. arche beginning, origin, primitive; Gr. neut. n. angion vessel, container; Archangium primitive vessel.

Proteobacteria / Deltaproteobacteria / Myxococcales / Cystobacteraceae / Archangium

Vegetative cells are long, slender, needle-shaped rods with tapering ends. Fruiting bodies without sporangioles, contorted strings of myxospores in hardened slime forming cushion-shaped masses, very variable in shape and size, may separate into packets when put under pressure. Myxospores short, fat rods with rounded ends to almost spherical, optically refractile. Swarm colonies with branched radial veins in a tough slime sheet. Does not degrade chitin.

Type species: Archangium gephyra Jahn 1924, 67.