Beiträge von Steve_mt

These are the spores which measure Me = 11.4 × 6.9 ; Qe = 1.7 ; Ve = 283

(9.9) 10.2 - 12.3 (13.3) × (5.6) 6.3 - 7.4 (8.5)

Seems to be dextrinoid in Lugol's Iodine and I can't see a distinct Germ pore ....

I am working on this small fungus in grassy land under mixed pine forest. Flesh in stipe reddish brown. Sopre print medium brown, similar to rust or tobacco,

One specimen dried at home.

Some initial guidance would be appreciated (Bolbitiaceae ? / Conocybe ? )

Thanks in advance

Steve/

I was reading Polypores of the Mediterranean Region and there was a nice clue on differentiating Gloeophyllum sepiarium from abietinum. G.Sep. forms a black reaction with KOH while G. ab. does not. My specimen (dried) did react strongly to 3% KOH; hence it must be some old population of G. sepiarium. Other hints leading to this determination include zonation at the outer parts of the fruiting body and warty sterile surface (no signs of hairs ?! but maybe because old?). Spores are said to be quite similar, so I did not check them.

drop of 3% KOH on sterile surface (edge and centre)

Pics in this webpage are also close to my specimens.

Gloeophyllum sepiarium

Gloeophyllum sepiarium This is an interesting, and interesting looking, fungi, a seeming polypore with gills rather than pores, though genetic testing has…

10000thingsofthepnw.com

Thanks for the typo correction and notes. Yes it is between abietinum and sepiarium. I check the spores and literature on the genus shortly and report back my findings.

I am seeking you assistance on this interesting bracket fungus on fallen / logged stump of Pinus halapensis (31/1/23) which seems to produce rust-brown spore mass. Sample collected if I need to do some micro-work. The basidiomycetes are rather leathery-soft, and their width is about 3 cm.

Gloeophyllum ?

OK , seeing the joker card did not work, I went on to check the spores of both collections, and I am quite sure that the spores are alike, hence both the large and the small mushrooms are of the same Melaleuca species

Spores stained in Cotton Blue are shown.

Measurements (14 from each collection) resulted in the following averages

(6) 6.8 - 8.1 (8.4) × (4.9) 4.92 - 5.8 (6.1) µm

Q = (1.2) 1.24 - 1.5 (1.6) ; N = 28

V = (76) 90 - 137 (151) µm3

Me = 7.4 × 5.4 µm ; Qe = 1.4 ; Ve = 114 µm3

I think it is Melanoleuca polioleuca (Fr.) Kühner & Maire - Common Cavalier

I am investigating two kinds of Melanoleuca sp. found in the same park, basically composed of Aleppo pine on rocky ground with many moss or wild grass lawns. One population consisted of two large specimens (one collected), and the other consisted of 10 or so scattered small fruiting bodies (2 collected). The colors are almost the same, but the former are larger (pileus 5cm across), fleshier, with upturned pileus margin, the other are smaller (pileus 2 cm across), more neat and petite, perfectly round and plane pileus and with more crowded gils.

I would love to have an indication if they are the same species (the former is an older specimen from the latter). One should be Melanoleuca melaleuca, but maybe there are other species here in the south!

So I did a little extra research and closely related species which should occur in the Mediterranean:

D. minor - but it has smaller fruiting bodies 0.5--2.5mm (my specimens were 3 mm average)

D. tortus - specifically grows on pine, but in many examples on the net, the fruiting body is dull-ochre [link]

D. capitatus - should have a little stipe, and from this photo showing some lateral views, the FB are well sessile.

I can't think of other alternatives right now.

Maybe I try and fetch a sample if time allows.

I wanted to share photos of a parasitic fungus that often attacked pine boletes (eg Xerocomus / Xerocomellus) which at full maturity it covers completely the semi-digested host fungus in a golden yellow powder - sometimes looking like a slime-mould.

Very contrasting bright colour

Hypomyces chrysospermus

dl

hmmm.... another idea is Dacrymyces capitatus - I should have taken a sample!

Thanks a lot UWE !

Yes, no particular taste and no particular scent, no yellowing in the flesh, just pale grey.

I think I found a Tricholoma terreum, with greying gills and slightly grey flesh. I have collected a specimen and can perform some micro... but if these images confirm it, I can focus on two Melanoleuca that I have encountered. Size about 4cm across and cap was rough-textured (like tomentose)

Habitat = Grassy ground under pine trees

I wish to have a confirmation of what I think is Dacrymyces stillatus. I did not collect the specimen. It was on the stem of a fallen Pine branch (presumably!)/

The fruiting bodies were tiny, not more than 5mm

Love your posts bro

Yes I also confirm young ones, and looks great when in cluster! There is another species (A. mesenterica) which I never saw but this is not the one you showed us.

Coriolopsis gallica is quite common in Malta and that looks exactly the same.

3% KOH would react like this (then it fades with time).

In situ on Olea Europaea (not host specific here - but safely I can say always on decaying broad-leaf trunks/stems)

situ:

Once I started to study it seriously maybe I / we can give another try this season. So far this fungus has always defeated me. The ones growing here are above and feeding on another fungus so when I try to isolate the fungus on plates I get lot of contaminations and unable to send abroad. Yet once i managed to have a pure colony but I did not investigated it molecularly at that time. I am always too busy these days but maybe / hope to have free time soon. The examination of the teleomorph is important but from what I read and have been suggested (eg. AscoFrance) we definitely need to see the anamorph, and to have a 99% confirmation, send a pure colony for genetics. (ITS and maybe LSU). I think the populations I saw in Malta (on a black-crust stromatous fungus on expose bark) may correspond to the same or at most two different species.

More info here:

Cosmospora and its possible anamorph - Forum ASCOFrance

I went to check the population again, same spot, fresh specimens found and injured and dissected, but there was no sap released !!!. I hence assumed we are on the wrong track here with fuscobadia and allies as previously assumed. I did some research and the mossy habitat under Pinus led me to Peziza muscicola which fits very well. It seems to have got a new genus - Lagaliana.

Legaliana muscicola (Donadini) Van Vooren, Ascomycete.org 12 (4): 188 (2020) [MB#835844 ]

MICOLOGIA, di Salvatore Saitta - Peziza muscicola - Galleria fotografica

Yes you are right - stupid me ! It think it is Coprinellus radians which I saw young specimens in the same site. I did not know it becomes like that when fully mature.

Yes, I noticed that it was a little mouldy (I examined the best specimens) and probably the deflated spores is also another symptom but I did not know that it produce that 'fluffy' effect and that it renders the sample in a very bad state beyond identification. Good to learn this - tnx.

Yet maybe u are right and seems that I can't visualize the difference between the Badhamia and Physarum lime granules in the capillitium. I thought those in Badhamia are in the form of tubules and those of Physarum are bulky / blocky granules like the specimen here. From your comments I have it wrong and I really need to learn between the Badhamia granules and the Physarum granules because it is an important element in my keys too.

I don't know if you can mentor me in this regards

Best LG

Steve

Thanks Frank. I am excluding albidobadio and I trust this is Duportella not Porostereum.

I spent like 90 minutes observing several mount of specimens I collected a week ago, but a big disappointment as I found no informative data. I sliced the upper layers of the fungus where it was brownish or sometimes blackish.

The fungus is very hyaline and do not stain well with congo red. Then there was a lot of 'debris' and artifacts released from the mycelium, probably bacteria. I managed to see two spores (allantoid, ca. 7.5 um), clamp junctions, mycelia with short branches at the apex (?) and what seems to be special darker cystidia. I think in one case I saw a metalloid cystidia which was short. Apart that there was a tight meshwork of interwoven sterile mycelia and nothing very interesting, opposed to what other colleagues (E.g. Italian) found for both Duportella and Porostereum

Many thanks Frank I am excluding P. albidobadia and I trust this is Duportella not Porostereum.

I spent like 90 minutes observing several mount of specimens I collected a week ago, but a big disappointment as I found no informative data. I sliced the upper layers of the fungus where it was brownish or sometimes blackish.

The fungus is very hyaline in water and do not stain well with congo red. Then there was a lot of 'debris' and artifacts released from the mycelium, probably bacteria. I managed to see three spores (allantoid, ca. 7.5 um), clamp junctions, mycelia with short branches at the apex (?) and what seems to be special darker cystidia. I think in one case I saw a metalloid cystidia which was short. Apart from that there was a tight meshwork of interwoven sterile mycelia and nothing else very interesting, opposed to what other colleagues (Eg Italian) found for both Duportella and Porostereum. Maybe because it is viewed one week after collection.

Well, Duportella remains the best match.

Thank you Frank, you have been very helpful

I have a small collection of 18 myxocarps of what looks like to be a Diderma for its amorphous lime covering on the peridium, but nothing is matching in the genus (or Didymium) and the large lime granules indeed suggest to be a Physarum instead.

Description:

Gregarious, spherical (slightly compressed) myxocarps about 0.7 - 1.0 mm wide, sessile or a very tiny stalk (more a continuation of the plasmodium). I could not find a columella (quite sure it is absent) and not sure if the peridium is a single or double layer but I just saw a very thin membranous single layer on which the lime granules are sitting on. Capillitium lime granules large, angular, Y-shaped or lobed, bulky.

Spores 9-12 um, minutely and regularly spinose (short), without obvious ridges or dark edges, strangely many are collapsed and non viable.

There is indeed Physarum didermoides with spores 12-16um and P. diderma with spores 9-11um, but these are double-layered peridium and I can't really detect it. Also the outer lime of these two species is more cemented rather than fluffy. In the section of single-layer peridia, I have considered P. licheniforme but they are described to be smaller (up to 0.6mm) and on grass, P. ovisporum but I cant detect easily a pale line; P. cinereum but this grows on grass and leaves and P. daamsii, but this is a much smaller species (0.5mm max) and peridial lime is different.

So I am quite blocked on this finding.

Is that a one photo shot or a stacked image? In the former case I really need to update my 8 year old photographic gear to this standard.

I received another suggestion - Porostereum spadiceum but for a different collection - a fungus without violet hues between the brown and white zones (see images below)

Is the violet tinge shown in the original post specific to Duportella malenconii ? Maybe even I have a mixed collection here with 9060s seems to be a bit different from the rest ? It so confusing hehe! I should see the spores at this stage...

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Photos of another collection - similar to IMG 9060 in the original post. Is it still D. malenconii? - Small crusts merging into each other without forming resupinations or outgrowth brackets.