Moss Gametophyte?

svalley · Post by **svalley** » Fri Apr 06, 2018 4:33 pm

I am not sure exactly what this is. It was at the top of a leafy sprig of moss. I found it as I was looking for something interesting to shoot on a clump of moss.There was what appeared to be a smooth yellow ovoid in the terminal bud, but under magnification it turns out to be less smooth or ovoid shaped than I first thought.

A 100% crop shows the "ovoid" more clearly and also a white mystery object.

Nikon D810, Mitutoyo 10x M Plan mounted on a 200mm Micro-Nikkor, single diffused flash, 344 frames stacked with Zerene stacker.

Steve

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Fri Apr 06, 2018 6:52 pm

Steve,

In closeup, that white mystery object looks to me like it has bilateral symmetry, with a leg sticking out on the left side of the image, and things that look like eyes in the upper section, with some linear structures that could be palps and/or antennae sticking down between the upper and lower sections. Are you sure that isn't some sort of insect??

--Rik

svalley · Post by **svalley** » Fri Apr 06, 2018 7:07 pm

rjlittlefield wrote:
In closeup, that white mystery object looks to me like it has bilateral symmetry, with a leg sticking out on the left side of the image, and things that look like eyes in the upper section, with some linear structures that could be palps and/or antennae sticking down between the upper and lower sections. Are you sure that isn't some sort of insect??

--Rik

I do think it is some kind of animal, perhaps a mite. It was suggested that it might be a spore capsule, based on just the first image, but looking at it on the original image it seem to clearly be some kind of very tiny critter.

Steve