Beiträge von Steve_mt

Photos in situ....

Hi, here I am writing again about another strange fungus growing on the bark of a dead tree that I suspect is Ficus carica. First seen, it looks like a dry coral mushroom with a pale beige-ink color. It grows in tufts and then it apparently blackens out. Under the microscope, it turned out to be a synematous microfungus composed of sterile structural core of thick entangled hyphae, mustard-brown to curry-brown in color but dull. This becomes black in KOH. The outer layer is a thick dense coat of penicillate hyphae, with branches arranged in whorls and each subbranch seems to have a small head of phialides each producing one conidiospore. Conidiosore bean-shaped. This layer is pale mauve (almost greyish) and turns dirty green in KOH. The conidiospores are cream-straw color and become mauve-pink in KOH.

any clues please?

Thanks, I try to stay away from FB coz I waste a lot of time, but I think everyone is running out of ideas, and maybe I should post there. However, while the fungus remains in a sterile condition, we can't expect miracles. And I don't feel like going again to the island of Comino for the third time !!

Zitat von KaMaMa

Hello Steve,

Water will evaporate out, diffusion is just a matter of time ...

But anyway you can't propably open the dish slowly enough, without creating turbulances, transporting spores inside.

Surely won't work. Sorry, silly idea of me.

Best regards, Martin

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It's Ok Martin don't worry, we share opinions without any regret! I was also a bit silly to think it may take 3-4 days to evaporate, but it was quicker (at 40C). Thanks for your thoughts!

I managed to dry it with the filter paper method after sterelizing it in the microwave at 440W for 5 minutes. Maybe I am making lot of fuss for nothing because the agar dried in c. 30hrs and that is too short time for any serious contamination.

Now what about storage? I have in mind to l cut the agar around the colony wrap it in aluminium foil and put it in close dry environment, perhaps tupperware container with some silica gel. I am sure insects will feast on the agar if I leave it in a box. I have lot of silverfish in my house recently (probably they are attracted to fingi)

Zitat von KaMaMa

Hi steve,

Firts of all, I haven't done this before, but why don't you turn yout dish upside-down, remove the cover and dry it like this?

Contaminating spores won't move upwards, I think.

Regards, Martin

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That way the water can't evaporate out

Under the microscope, there is more or less the same picture of before, but what we assume that are basidioles are more wriggly (curved/flexuose).

Hello... Sorry for letting you wait.

Here are some close-up images of the fruiting bodies, 6 days after the first encounter. The have not changed much. They seem to have more a coral-fungus approach then that of a jelly baby fungus. The flesh is soft and breaks away easily, but decivesly not gelatinous. I have dried some more specimens and placed few in the fridge. Not the heavy pruinosity near the stipe.

Found them. 3 populations. Here are quick mobile photos 😍

I take some pics with slr. They did not change that much. Cu

We are going for it. Hope we find it in goid shape 🙏😊

You hit the nail on its head re last fungus. I see if I can do more re species level! Interesting!

Thanks!

Ceratellopsis

But spores, bacteria and living matter that have water inside so the microwave radiation "should" destroy them, at least theoretically. The question is if the rating of 440W is enough, because higher ratings damage plastic, wood/paper, rubber and arcs with metals etc.

Microwave sterilization - PubMed

Effect of microwave radiation on Bacillus subtilis spores - PubMed

Yet these claims do not mention the power rating So I wonder if someone had personal experience.

Wish to have confirmation on my ID of Mycena hiemalis for this wood-inhabiting mycena. Saprotrophic on Ceratonia siliqua

I know that microwave should kill all living matter. When it comes to plastic or paper or metals, setting at high-power can cause burns and damages to such materials, but at 270W and 330 W (I think also 440W) no damage is created. Do you know if at these ratings for long period (say 10mins) is an effective way of killing bacteria and fungi spores. Sometimes I re-use petridishes coz they are expensive.

Guys, for the last 4-5 years I have been trying to identify a Talaromyces that specifically grow on seeds of Washingtonia.

You can follow and see the pics here:

https://mushroomobserver.org/262509

To sequence it, I have to isolate it on media, which I managed. Now I need to dry it. I have a home made incubator with temperature control (now set at 40C). My plan is to put the petri dish in it but the water moisture evaporating out will condense on the lid and back into the media. I thought of uncovering it but I am afraid it gets contaminated leaving it uncovered for a day. Ideas:

Drilling the lid with small hole / holes (less chance of contamination)

Place a sterile filter paper instead of the lid.

Sprinkle over sulfur to inhibit growth of any fungi (just a weird idea!).

Put petri dish it in a sterile, close tupperware container with the lid open over a bed of dry silica gel

How should I dry it without contaminating it.

The specimens started to mold slightly :-(. Yesterday I did not put them in the fridge, so as to accelerate the development process. The best specimen has been dried yesterday so safe from contaminants. Today, I thought, dass die surface was more pruinose ... maybe they make it to sporulate before parasite takes them out.

Andreas, KOH on surface - no color change. It wasn't gelatinous (mucoid or watery) just soft tissue

Yet I found some other strange finger-like organism growing close to them from the soil. Maybe Ceratiomyxa ?!. I may find time to examine under the microscope!

Dear Pablo,

Thank you for your reply and teaching. I could clearly make up two types of hyphae and maybe the third one, the binding hyphae (not sure) as shown in the new image here (Sorry for the crap ones before, I was super tired!)

Thanks a lot for yr help

LG

Stephen

OK I have a small update. I re-examined the material which was in fridge for 3 days. They have not changed much physically, but the outer layer became slightly more developed and we can be sure that this is a Basidiomycete since I saw basidioles. None of them was mature. The medull became completely whitish-yellow now (central orange zone faded away) and there were some invaginations inside (like it is still shaping up). The medullary tissue remains undifferentiated, in parallel bundles, but they are elongated, more straight and still with perpendicular septae (- rectangular hyphae)

I attach the images.

Thanks for suggestion Spathularia Grüni /Kagi ... hmmmm, could be but they are mostly yellow. I have another suggestion - what do you think about Dacryopanix???

Yes, I did. I saw a tobacco brown trama which with 4% KOH it becomes wine-red, darkening to blackish-purple. I tried to mount the trauma and tubes and I am sure that there are two types of hyphae and maybe three (trimitic) if the basidiole baring hyphae are considered different from the generative. The hairs are two types, brown and dull brown (almost black). The hymenium have a lilac tinge at the border.

Spores really lemon-shaped : 15.6 x 9.3 µm; Qe = 1.7; Ve = 721 µm3

- hence this is var. papilionaceus . The cheilocystidia are really cool.

Zitat von Steve_mt

Yes, I haven't grasped very well the concept of monomitic / dimitic / trimitic, generative hyphae, skeletal hypha, etc when examining under the microscope. They just look like a brush of unspecialised mycelia entangled into each other. I had a look again this morning and I an interesting parasite!

Look what I found in the mycelia of this Inocutis dryophilus. A mycoparasite

Zitat von mollisia

Hello,

the structures shown are not gelatinous, neither the outer layer nor the medullary layer. So Tremiscus is out, and I think all heterobasidiomycetes are out now. They usually have are very loosely interwoven hyphal system with much space for gelatinous matter inbetween.

As the hyphae are clampless, I wouldn't rule out ascomycetes per se. The thin hyphae of the excipulum layer looking like a trichoderm could still belong to an ascomycete.

But another idea: May be it is a very young Cotylidia (pannosa) - I have no experience with this species in immature stadium unluckily.

all the best,

Andreas

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Hi again andreas. I keep your observations in mind.

Not excluding ascomycetes was a surprise for me because all discomycetes I studied had spherical-pyriform-potato-shape packing hyphae in the medulla or sterile parts. Yet I have not observed a large range of ascomycetes under the microscope so as you say, some genera may after all have the tubular-form packing mycelium.

I confirm all you said, the flesh is soft and frial like a sorbet but not gelatinous/slimy/viscous. The hypha were tightly bound and I do not expect they will loosen with maturity. I might recheck again tonight. Maybe I go and buy a couple of red bulls today. I have some five other open posts requiring an update which I wish to tackle today. One of these days I post some extraterrestrial fungi from the past :-p (at least one looked like that and nobody had a clue!) so to be continued...

THANK YOU ALL!

Zitat von ogni volta

Hi Steve, i cannot tell you what this is neither, if T. helvelloides could be an option, ripe fruitbodies should look like this beneath the microscope, you could compare in case. Kind regards, Ingo

Ps: personally I rather not think it is tremiscus. I have no other idea unfortunately. So i am looking forward to how it develops!

Hi Ogni-Volta. You don't have the little man/woman icon lol! I have looked at the link provided showing mycelia of T. helvelloides. One thing in common, there is nothing exciting to see! Your image also fail to show distinct reproductive parts and spores. If I am not tired, I try another round of examinations tonight. I keep you posted and I will travel again to the island I found this population soon.

Zitat von Grüni/Kagi

Zitat von Steve_mt

Ooopsss !!!! I didn't realize you are female - I thought all those who have replied were men. No open intended!

(...)

No problem, Steve! I was just joking, I'm not offended.

Just wanted to let you know who's writing... it's been my fault...you couldn't see it from my new profile picture.

My avatar before this one looked like this:

...by the way, I'm really excited about your mushroom babies and I'm looking forward to the solution.

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Thanks for the artistic explanation Kruni/ Kagi. I never noticed the micro man/woman icon there - so sweet! Nice ex-avatar pic too. I do my best to get a solution. We wait for it to grow a bit more. Lot of nice people here trying to help! I love it. My M.Sc. is really gonna be interesting.