Plasmodium

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat May 24, 2008 5:24 pm

First one I have found around where I live.

Looking like leftovers from a liposuction operation it is hard just to say what species this will turn out to be. Hopefully tomorrow, will I find a mass of fruiting bodies.

Kind of a dark image, I forgot that my diffuser was still attached to the flash

, however...doesn't this remind you of bullet hole in soft fatty tissue? :-& Don't know what the red pigment is, it would be interesting to find out though.

Another shot of the gory looking mess. This stuff was really slimy, as I took a small sample back to observe using the microscope. Nothing more than a mass of oozing protoplasm really. Sort of reminds one of a nice beefy lasagna, doesn’t it? Look at all that tomato sauce!

Ah, what have we here but an emerger, a fruiting body no less.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun May 25, 2008 9:56 am

Going back out this morning to check on the plasmodium to see if there were any fruiting bodies to be seen, I found this.

Seems as though it had broken up and has now aggregated to form what seems to be an aethalium. There were three of them.

In Micro Phaneroplasmodium

Planapo · Post by **Planapo** » Sun May 25, 2008 12:05 pm

Well, Ken quite picturesque descriptions there:

leftovers from a liposuction operation

and

bullet hole in soft fatty tissue

but at the same time

a nice beefy lasagna

Now, let me add: That last one reminds me of grated cheese that would go nicely with your "beefy lasagna".
Boy, we´re having a rather strong stomach today, huh!?

Now seriously, very interesting and well documented stuff. Thanks for sharing!

--Betty

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sun May 25, 2008 12:11 pm

What luck Ken. Great photos and followup. An incredible transformation. Do you think it will just start drying out and release spores? Oops, the size please also. Thanks

Doug

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun May 25, 2008 12:44 pm

Thanks Betty, Doug

At present it looks as though an aethalium will be formed, unless something goes arry and a sclerotium develops instead. Then it will have to wait for favorable conditions for fruitification or sporulation. The whole plasmodium covered several square cm but the aethalium, which looks to be forming is about 5 cm. across. Bye the way, as I was taking the macros, it just so happened that about 18" away, a small "Copperhead" of about the same length, 18 inches, was intently eyeing my actions. Upon noticing the beautiful markings and then admiring it from a hastely gained distance, it slithered away beneath the decaying log that the myxo's were on.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun May 25, 2008 6:04 pm

I believe this to be a species of Physarum, though I am not sure. There is the possibility that it could also be Fuligo septica, sometimes referred to as "Dog Vomit" in some species. What ever the case, it seems to have formed, as I assumed, an aethalium. This is where the sporangia have became tightly fused within. As this continues to age, the spores will be released and possibly a positive ID can be made. Here are the pics from this afternoon.

I took photographs similar to the last one through the stereomicroscope and to be honest I cannot tell much of a difference, however these were with the EOS 20D and the EF 100mm f/2.8 macro. Color temp. set to approx. 5500K w/flash Canon 430EX ETTL @ -1/3

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Mon May 26, 2008 11:50 am

Now well over 48hrs. from the time that I found the plasmodium, many changes have been made in effect to its appearance. The aethalium having been formed and the fact that knowing there are fused sporangia inside, has prompted me to look further into the structure of this organism.

Here we have the aethalium with the "lid off."

Lying on a paper towel and having the top cut away with a double edged razor blade and prepared to go beneath the lenses of the stereo microscope. Note the dark spore mass in the center.

Here you can see the spore mass in a bit more detail. The images from the strereo or dissecting microscope can be seen in the Micro Forum using Phaneroplasmodium . The spore mass images taken through the stereomicroscope are to be added tomorrow in micro.

lauriek · Post by **lauriek** » Tue May 27, 2008 5:23 am

Regarding the species, (and I make no claims to be an expert here, I only have a vague interest in Slime Moulds since I discovered some on my fungus hunts!) I once photographed something /very/ similar to your picture in your second post, and with the help of some others on a wildlife forum thought I had identified it as fuligo septica. Picture is available over here

You obviously have a fair amount of knowledge about these fascinating creatures, any pointers to good online resources or books?

ETA: Incidentally, gross descriptions, you might have just put me off lasagne!

If you ate one of these, would it try to crawl back out of you?

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue May 27, 2008 2:50 pm

If you ate one of these, would it try to crawl back out of you?

I doubt it but...there are some species which are edible and people do consume them. However, I have forgotten which one or ones, there are not very many though.

You obviously have a fair amount of knowledge about these fascinating creatures, any pointers to good online resources or books?

Here you go, one of the best I have found on the web. That site also links with mircro*scope too. One of the best publications and it is quite inexpensive is, Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds by Stephenson and Stempen, Timber Press. Prof. Stephenson also heads up the myxo research at the Univ. of Ark.

By the way Mucilago, which I now believe this to be, though which species I cannot be sure, is easily misidentified with Fuligo cinera and possibly others. Spores however, seem to suggest different from both possible ID's, they appear a bit too smooth. Dunno...

http://slimemold.uark.edu/index.htm

Thanks lauriek

salden · Post by **salden** » Tue May 27, 2008 3:03 pm

Ken Ramos wrote:
If you ate one of these, would it try to crawl back out of you?
I doubt it but...there are some species which are edible and people do consume them. However, I have forgotten which one or ones, there are not very many though.

You obviously have a fair amount of knowledge about these fascinating creatures, any pointers to good online resources or books?
Here you go, one of the best I have found on the web. That site also links with mircro*scope too. One of the best publications and it is quite inexpensive is, Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds by Stephenson and Stempen, Timber Press. Prof. Stephenson also heads up the myxo research at the Univ. of Ark.

By the way Mucilago, which I now believe this to be, though which species I cannot be sure, is easily misidentified with Fuligo cinera and possibly others. Spores however, seem to suggest different from both possible ID's, they appear a bit too smooth. Dunno...

http://slimemold.uark.edu/index.htm

Thanks lauriek

I think this one did crawl out of Ken...

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue May 27, 2008 4:32 pm

Ahhhh….we have the scoffers.

Laugh now ye foolish mortals, for the diploid masses are converging, even now with the rain. (Wish I could laugh like Vincent Price)

Funny you should say that Sue, a goodly number of people, probably agree with you.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue May 27, 2008 6:43 pm

lauriek take a look at this. I think that you may be right. This is approximately what I have been observing if you look at the Phaneroplasmodium link to the Micro Forums where I have the spores posted along with the cortex removed from the aethalium.

http://slimemold.uark.edu/images/pictur ... eptica.jpg