[2] This slime mould has a world-wide distribution but there has been found to be variation between different samples and in a taxonomic revision in 2008, Kawakami and Hagiwara determined that some specimens originally described as P. pallidum were a different species, Polysphondylium album.

Like other slime moulds, it lives in soil, dung, leaf litter and other decaying organic materials.

The myxamoebae release a chemical agent, acrasin, which guides other slime mould cells to move towards them.

[7] In damp weather, a Polysphondylium pallidum myxamoeba can move around at a speed of about 1 millimetre (0.04 in) per hour, leaving a chemical trail behind it.

Under favourable conditions, the myxamoebae agglutinate and stick together to form a "pseudoplasmodium" in which they remain separate individuals but behave as if the whole mass was a single organism.

[4] In an experiment to study the conditions necessary for agglutination, Polysphondylium pallidum was cultured on plates of hay-infusion agar.