MYXOMYCETES XV - Destruction by Fungal Attack

[Walter Piorkowski]

MYXOMYCETES XV - Destruction by Fungal Attack

Upper image:
Scale of frame, 1.65mm horizontal
Canon 10D
Canon 20mm f.l. lens @ f/5.6 on extension tubes
Series of 38 images at .0005 inch increments
Diffused fiber optic illumination
Combine ZM, Photoshop


Middle image:
Scale of frame, 2.5mm horizontal
Canon 10D
Canon 20mm f.l. lens @ f/5.6 on extension tubes
Series of 51 images at .001 inch increments
Diffused fiber optic illumination
Combine ZM, Photoshop


Lower image:
Scale of frame, 1.5mm horizontal
Canon 10D
Canon 20mm f.l. lens @ f/3.5 on extension tubes (maximum)
Series of 36 images at .0005 inch increments
Diffused fiber optic illumination
Combine ZM, Photoshop

Ken has mentioned several times about myxomycete destruction by fungus. So despite how disturbing it is for us myxo lovers, sorry Ken. I show just that in my last installment of MYXOMYCETES for a while.

The upper image at extreme macro shows a germinating spore attached to the peridium of a hapless myxomycete. The spreading hyphae although difficult to make out at first are pointed out with some small arrows. It will eventually destroy the poor myxo as seen in the second image. This pair is not the same as the specimen in image one but are the same species. The lower image at my maximum magnification shows the complex nature of the erupting fungal mass. I confess that I don’t know what all the little bubbles are yet.

Walt

[Ken Ramos]

Interesting there Walt . I at one time or another read about what the fungi was composed of in relation to the contents of the filaments but it escapes me at the moment. Wish I could remember where I come across it at. Yes it is a sad end to a very beautiful form of life but that is the way nature intended it to be.
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Ken Ramos
Rutherford Co., Western North Carolina

"Social isolate?"

[beetleman]

Incredible followup Walt. It is amazing how you can see the hyphae radiating out from the spore...very creepy. This would have made a great time-laps video. maybe the round drops are the fungus fruiting bodies.
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Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda