Fungal Spores

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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micro_pix
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Fungal Spores

Post by micro_pix »

Here are some photos of fungal spores and the basidiocarps that produced them.

They are all taken under the 100X oil objective (with the exception of the Entoloma which was 40x). They vary in size but are between 7 and 18 microns in length. The first four are from the same genus.
The spores are as photographed, the background has been cleaned and I thought they looked better with a slight shadow which I added in Photoshop.

Panaeolus semiovatus

Image


Panaeolus acuminatus

Image

Panaeolus fimicola

Image

Panaeolus papilionaceus

Image

Hypholoma ericaeum

Image

Inocybe stellatospora

Image
Last edited by micro_pix on Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:56 am, edited 2 times in total.

Chris S.
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Post by Chris S. »

Wonderful! Very effective to see field shots of the fruiting bodies juxtaposed with the spores as you have done. And to have four species of the Panaeolus genus placed so neatly for comparison. :D

Did you treat any of those spores with KOH?

--Chris S.

micro_pix
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Post by micro_pix »

Thanks Chris. No I didn’t use KOH with these, they were in water. The Panaeolus spores are all naturally dark, the spore print is what I’d calll black/brown, and the Hypholoma and Inocybe spores are mid brown.

I always try and avoid using KOH on fresh spores as I get a better record of their natural colour through the scope but you do need good resolution (or DIC) to see the hyaline spores easily. I have often used lacto-phenol cotton blue if I’m looking for surface ornamentation on the spores but if you have it, DIC is great for that too.

Pitufo
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Post by Pitufo »

Very nice work and good to have photographs of the spores. This group can be hard to tell apart and spore descriptions are not nearly as helpful.

I didn't realise that KOH had an effect on the colour of spores but it can change their size slightly I believe.

micro_pix
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Post by micro_pix »

Thanks Pitufo. It’s a long time since I looked at spores in KOH as I invariably look at fresh spores in water. I thought I remember that it made the spores appear a bit darker/browner but it isn’t regarded as a stain.

leonardturner
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Post by leonardturner »

Very interesting comparisons, nicely done and presented. The discussion of KOH is interesting as well. As you may know, the "KOH prep" has often been used diagnostically in medicine to dissolve away flakes of skin gently scraped from a rash, revealing the fungal elements within. I have often done this to good effect.

micro_pix
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Post by micro_pix »

Thanks Leonard. I knew KOH was caustic and damaging to skin but I hadn't realised it was used for that purpose.

Here are three photos of hyaline (clear/white) spores. All in water; the first is in brightfield, the second is in darkfield and the third in DIC.

Helvella crispa spores in water.

Image

Entoloma conferendum spores in darkfield.

Image

Laccaria laccata spores in DIC.

Image

Pitufo
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Post by Pitufo »

Great images :)

KMn04 3% can also be used to darken spore colour and allows hyaline spores to be seen more easily https://micro-science.co.uk/product/pot ... manganate/

Sumguy01
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Post by Sumguy01 »

:smt038 Very nice.
Interesting and informative.
Thanks for sharing.

Jacek
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Post by Jacek »

Good job, very nice

vasselle
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Post by vasselle »

très bon travail et les images sont belles
Microscope Leitz Laborlux K
Boitier EOS 1200d

micro_pix
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Post by micro_pix »

Thanks for the nice comments.

Dave

Walter Piorkowski
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Post by Walter Piorkowski »

Very nice project. Enjoying your images. Walt

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

+1 enjoying these. What size are the spores, approx?
Chris R

micro_pix
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Post by micro_pix »

Thanks for the comments.

Hi Chris,
The spores are roughly around 8 or 9 microns for the Inocybe spore (they are not all depicted at the same scale) to around 18 microns for the largest of the Panaeolus spores (Panaeolus semiovatus). The Entoloma darkfield was a 40X objective rather than the 100X.

Dave

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