A fruiting body of certain slime molds (myxomycetes) composed of a mass of spores enclosed in a common outer membrane or wall.
Modern scientific Latin from Greek 'aither' (ethereal, relating to the upper air) plus '-alium' suffix. Named poetically for its airy, dustlike appearance of spores.
When a slime mold has done all its gobbling up bacteria, it produces an aethalium—basically a pre-packaged bundle of spores ready to spread on the wind like fate itself.
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