Arcyria w/plasmodium

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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

Arcyria w/plasmodium

Post by Ken Ramos »

I had forgotten just how small these things really were. It has been sometime since I have last looked for them up in the mountains, where there always seems to be sufficent moisture and humidity, conducive to the fruification of plasmodia. One of the many things I have learned from the study and observation of slime molds and from those observations of others, is that if possilbe try and not to disturb a plasmodium or it will never come to fruitification or sporulation. A couple of years ago, I brought a plasmodium home for observation. Keeping it in a moist and warm environment and feeding it oat flakes, it survived for around three months and then died, having never produced a single fruiting body. However it did on occasion get loose and slither around the table in search of other morsels, I think. They do make good short term pets, with no serious commitments and they do not bark at night nor have need of a litter box and they do not chew up your favorite shoes or the cork reel seat of your favorite 2 wt. flyrod. Here in the following photographs one can see the fruiting bodies and fruiting bodies being formed from an active plasmodium, which I left exactly where I found it. :wink:

Image

Image

The fruiting bodies which you see are around 3.0 mm in height and were found on a badly decaying piece of wood or tree branch, having fallen to the forest floor. Note the spherical bodies of the protoplasmic upheaval as the fruiting bodies are being formed. It is a wonder that I found them at all but they were in the same area as the Stemonitis that I posted earlier. The plasmodium here is much larger in area and fans out more than that of Stemonitis, if you compare the two. These fruiting bodies and the plasmodium were neatly hidden beneath the leaf litter covering the area. If one ever decides to look for myxomycetes, though some can be quite large, it is adviseable to think small, very small. 8)

By the way, hats off to Graham Matthews for his post Slime mould: Lycogala terrestre. These myxos are fairly large and easily seen. :D

beetleman
Posts: 3578
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:19 am
Location: Southern New Hampshire USA

Post by beetleman »

Another great find Ken. Very sharp pictures. Wonderful getting the plasmodia and fruiting bodies together :smt023 . Are you hand holding the camera?
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

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

Post by Ken Ramos »

Doug asked:
Are you hand holding the camera?
Yep...

I had to look really close for these things Doug, they were only about 3mm at the most in height. Thanks Doug :D

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