Fuligo-sp_10

Description:

Fuligo sp. L. Dog vomit slime mold, Flowers of Tan, DE: Lohblte, HexenbutterSlo.: reslov cvetDat.: Oct. 11. 2015 - 20:30; about 7 hours after previous pictures.Code: Bot_918/2015_DSC9260All observations: Lat.: 46.36005 Long.: 13.70239Habitat: edge of former pasture; partly overgrown with Picea abies, Ostrya carpinifolia, Fagus sylvatica; slightly inclined mountain slope, southwest aspect, locally almost flat terrain, shallow, stony, calcareous ground; open, mostly sunny place; exposed to direct rain, average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7 - 9 deg C, elevation 595 m (1.950 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Temperatures from Oct. 11. to Oct. 19. were between 1 to 12 deg C, from Oct. 13. to Oct. 19. there were periods of very heavy rains. Substratum: on bark of a piece of cut down Picea abies trunk deposited on a pile of cut down Picea abies wood and branches; wood in its initial decomposition phase, mostly still in bark.Place: Lower Trenta valley, between villages Soa and Trenta, right bank of river Soa; near 'Na Melu' place somewhat south of Trenta 2b cottage; East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC.Comments: This Myxomicete almost certainly belongs to genus Fuligo. The first measurement of its spores made on live material distinguished it from the most common species in this genus Fuligo septica. Fuligo septica has smaller spores, from 6 to 9 microns in diameter, while most of other species have spores larger than 10 microns in diameter. Also colors of either aethalium (fruiting body formed from all or most of the plasmodium), or of plasmodium (acellular, multinucleate mass of protoplasm, which crawls around, feeds and grows before it forms aethalium), or of inner lime (structure within spore mass of mature aethalium) of this observation fit perfectly to none of the five varieties of Fuligo septica described in Ref.:3 (namely: F.s. var. septica, F.s. var. flava, F.s. var. candida, F.s. var. rosea and F.s. var. rufa). Using the key of the genus Fuligo given in Ref.: 1 one comes straight to Fuligo intermedia Macbr., syn.: Fuligo cinerea var. ecorticata Lister. The measured average spore diameter and spore surface fit best, but not perfect, to this species (pertains to the first measurement of spores). But there are important differences from the descriptions of this species in the literature. For example, cortex (a more or less thick outer layer of an aethalium) is not thin as it should be. Hypothallus (a thin layer between the substrate and fruiting body) was membranous and of several layers (as it should be according to Ref.:1) but it was only locally white. Dominant colors were yellow and even red. According to literature the color of aethalium should be dirty white, pale gray or brownish. This was so only on a rather limited part of aethalium (see pictures 30-32 upper part of the aethalium). Aethalium was mostly black with partly deep reddish tint. The dried sample of the find has been analyzed at the Slovenian Forestry Institute by Mrs. Sanja Behri. Spores have been measured twice (on two sets of equipment). Significantly smaller average dimension (8.5-8.7 m and 8.8 m; n > 20) found. This fits well to Fuligo septica. However, the other observed discrepancies from this species remain. A most probable but unverified assumption is that very bad weather with low temperatures during the development of the aethalium caused unusual properties. The quite significant differences in the results of spore dimensions of all three measurements could be the consequence of an uneven development of spore mass in different parts of aethalium, which were analyzed. But this is only an assumption. Because of that a reliable determination of the find remains open.Spores minutely warted. Dimensions: 9.6 [10.2 ; 10.5] 11.1 x 8.4 [9.1 ; 9.4] 10.1 microns; Q = 1 [1.1] 1.2; N = 30; C = 95%; Me = 10.4 x 9.2 microns; Qe = 1.1. Olympus CH20, NEA 100x/1.25, magnification 1.000 x, oil (spores); NEA 40x/0.65, magnification 400x (all other pictures), in water; in vivo. AmScope MA500 digital camera.Herbarium: Mycotheca and lichen herbarium (LJU-Li) of Slovenian Forestry Institute, Vena pot 2, Ljubljana, Index Herbariorum LJFRef.:(1) Personal communication with Mrs. dipl.biol. Sanja Behri, The Slovenian Forestry Institute, Ljubljana.(2) B. Ing, The Myxomycetes of Britain and Ireland, The Richmond Publ. Co.Ltd, (1999), p 244. (3) S.L. Stephenson and H. Stempen, Myxomycetes, Timber Press Inc.(2000), p 124. (4) M. Poulain, M. Meyer, J. Borronet, Les Myxomycetes, FMBDS (2011), Vol.1., p 392.