Top image: One fruiting body
Horizontal FOV 2.5mm
Canon 10D
Canon 20 mm Macro on tubes @ f/5.6
81 images at .0005 inch increments
Middle image: Part of the Ceratiomyxa forest
Horizontal FOV 5mm
Canon 10D
Canon 20 mm Macro on tubes @ f/5.6
74 images at .001 inch increments
Bottom Image: Naked eye overhead view.
Horizontal FOV – 40mm
Canon Pro 90 IS
Canon close-up lens
Single image
All images proceed in Combine ZM and Photoshop
Of all the myxomycetes I have collected over the years this is the most unusual and delicate. This genus, which only contains three species bears its spores on it’s exterior branches like apples on a apple tree. No membrane or capsule to break to release the spores.
As the bottom image shows, it is capable of coming up in vast numbers, appearing to cover large amounts of surface area. The small individual members accomplish this by spreading out their branches to contact each other as the middle image shows. Like a vast jungle forest, with a dense canopy blocking an aerial view of the forest floor, the canopy of Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa keeps you from seeing the substrate beneath.
Walt
Your id is probably correct but as I said something just doesn't look right. I suspected Fuligo spp. but then I am not sure of that either. More than likely you are right. Like I said you may have captured it either in the early stages of developement or in the latter as it has began to decompose. 