arcyria denudata and physarum leucophaeum [?] slime moulds

Every 30 days the site administrators will pick a favorite macro or close-up image from one of the "Macro and Close-up" galleries to be featured on the front page of the www.photomacrography.net website.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

Greenfields
Posts: 116
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 10:54 am
Location: Nottinghamshire, England

arcyria denudata and physarum leucophaeum [?] slime moulds

Post by Greenfields »

All images are stacks. Zerene Stacker PMax. 5D3 Canon MP-E 65mm. Magnification 4x [slices at 33 micron intervals] or 5x [slices at 25 micron intervals]. Lighting: Canon MT-24EX. 1/8 to 1/18 power. Diffuser = tube of 80 gsm printing paper round barrel

Image


Image


Image

Arcyria denudata fruitbodies
Tricky subject: The mass of filaments tends to move between slices, presumably twisting in response to heat and/or humidity to discharge the spores.


Image


Image

Physarum leucophaeum
Not completely confident about the identification because the species varies and others resemble it. In the final image the metallic lustre may be due to thin-film interference effects on parts of the membrane of the sporangium not covered by the mineral granules.

Henry
Feel free to edit my images.

ChrisR
Site Admin
Posts: 8668
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:58 am
Location: Near London, UK

Post by ChrisR »

I'd missed these! Thanks for showing us beautiful shots of these bewildering 8-[ organisms.
That's the best adjective I can find for them!
Where did you find them?

Greenfields
Posts: 116
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 10:54 am
Location: Nottinghamshire, England

Post by Greenfields »

Chris, Thank you for the comments.

Both examples came from wet but drying logs at Ebernoe Common, West Sussex.

These fruitbodies are, typically, about 0.8mm in diameter so they are very inconspicuous unless you are crawling about in the leaf-litter when working on something bigger and happen to see a group of them.

As you will know, but just in case others are interested they are strange life forms. At one time they were considered to be a variety of fungus but now they are seem as something on their own. For much of their lifecycle they are practically invisible, single-celled algae feeding off bacteria and organic debris. In the right conditions, some species [including these] aggregate and merge together forming a plasmodium which contains a very large number [millions] of nuclei sharing a common plasma. The plasmodium can move about and continue to feed. In the right conditions [I assume of temperature, humidity and when the local food supply is exhausted] the plasmodium forms fruitbodies. Some species form a small number of large fruitbodies. others larger number of small ones each containing millions of spores which is what you see in these pictures.

Henry.
Feel free to edit my images.

micro_pix
Posts: 469
Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 12:05 pm
Location: Southampton, Hampshire, UK

Post by micro_pix »

Hi,

I'm not an expert but I think that the fourth and fifth of your outstanding photos are actually Physarum album. This is due to the way that the capillitium radiates from the sporocarp base, the shape of the lime bodies and the flattened shape of the sporocarps. There is a good Key at Danish Myxomycetes

Both sets of images are superb but your A. denudata photos are the best I've seen.



Dave

Greenfields
Posts: 116
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 10:54 am
Location: Nottinghamshire, England

Post by Greenfields »

Thanks, Dave.

Your identification does make sense. I am very much a novice in this field.

Henry.
Feel free to edit my images.

Ken Ramos
Posts: 7208
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:12 pm
Location: lat=35.4005&lon=-81.9841

Post by Ken Ramos »

Outstanding photographs :smt023. I cannot set foot outside after a warm summers rain without looking for these things. Mostly here its is Metatrichia vesparium that I find along with Fuligo septica and a few Badhamia species. :D

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic