MYXOMYCETES

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 9:01 pm

MYXOMYCETES

Your magnificent macro photography forum seems to have a severe shortage of myxomycete (slime mold fruiting body) images. So my first submissions are these beautiful little gems of the forest floor. At this stage is when they are their most colorful and difficult to identify. They will later dry out and release their spores.

Camera -Olympus C-2000
Additional MicroExplorer model CM-3500 close-up lenses
Existing light

Walt

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:37 am

Please Walter don`t stop....Ken is going to love these....I love them also. Beautiful colors, very interesting subjects and great looking pictures

Very nice first photos. I am going to have to look them up and find out more on these little Gems. Thank you Walter

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 5:29 am

I can but only vaugely remember what spurred my interests in these remarkable organisms and going on to study them has brought about many hourse of amazment and joy in finding them in the field and even more so in macro and microscopic examination of them. I would suppose that a bit of study is required to develop an intense interest in them, it seems that a lot of individuals have no idea that they exist or if so, they choose to ignore this wonderful form of life thinking that there is not much to them and or another thing could be that even if one was interested in them, the myxomycetes are quite hard to find without careful examination of the various substrates on which they occur in the field. Most of these organisms are easily identified while others require that the spores be examined through the use of a microscope to make proper identification.

These appear to be the fruiting bodies of Hemitrichia calyculata, which I find quite common on decaying hardwood substrates in the forest after a summer rain. The weather is now cool here in North Carolina, we had our first frost last night and a hard freeze higher up in the mountains and so the search for myxo's in my area has pretty much come to an end for a season. However sometimes one might find the remains of a few fruiting bodies that have long since dispersed their spores. Lastly let us not forget the plasmodium from which these beautiful fruiting bodies arose, the plasmodium is a multinucleate mass of protoplasm resulting from the fused cells of what can be termed as "myxamoeba." A very nice series of photographs of one of my most favored subjects Walt.

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 7:07 am

That first one is very colourful.I thought slime moulds were all grey in colour. I dont think Ive seen one myself

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:21 am

Well guys, I'm glad you like the images. There will be more to come. Like you Ken I have been looking at these little things for about 35 years or more. IN the old days recording them well with the old bellows and strob was not easy. Todays equipment makes this task fun.

I will soon provide some photo micrographic images of the spores, capillital elements and surface nets of some of the myxos I have studied in great detail.

Cyclops, some are gray, even black but most are vibrant, stunning colors.

Walt

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:38 am

Walt, where does one find them?

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:19 am

Finally

Another slime mold fan and I thought I was the only one who took these litte things seriously.

Thirty five years of study eh Walt? I have much to learn from you.

Carl_Constantine · Post by **Carl_Constantine** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:20 pm

Really like that first pic. My wife commented how she like the fact that they stand up off the log.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:27 pm

Cyclops asked:

where does one find them?

Not to steal Walts show but they can be found most anywhere there is damp decaying organic material on the forest floor or sometimes even on the limbs and trunks of trees. Myxo's are quite small and reading up a bit and studying some photographs of them should give you a better understanding on just exactly where to look. There have been times I have searched all day long and not found a one or possibly even overlooked hundreds of them. They usually range in size from 1 to 10 mm in hight. My biggest delight is in finding a plasmodium. I once kept one for a pet, you might say, for well over a month or so. I kept hoping it would fruit but alas it just died away.

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:37 pm

I read somewhere they actually move, and can be watched doing so!

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:53 pm

The plasmodium can be observed to move, with a stereomicroscope or the low power setting of a transmitted light microscope, if you can get the plasmodium under the objectives, and will show protoplasmic streaming and amoeboid movement, however, a plasmodium moves approximately one inch per hour. In my observations they always seemed to move faster than that or so it seemed. By the way the plasmodium, as I mentioned earlier, is made up of fused myxamoeba, forming a single multinucleate cell or what I call a very large or giant amoeba. It is from the plasmodium that the fruiting bodies, as Walt shows us here, arise.

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 5:10 pm

Fascinating, and I apologise to Walter for hijacking his post!

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:04 pm

My apologies to you all for not responding sooner. I‘ve been away for a few days in the woods photographing and collectining more myxomycetes. Well bless your soul Mr. Ramos. I never dreamt I would find another non-professional myxo lover like myself. Sounds like you have been enjoying their little antics as well as frustrated by their hide and go seek nature.

To answer your question Mr. Cyclops as to were to find them? First get your grubby cloths on, a sheet of plastic to kneel on, some mosquito repellant and a good magnifying glass. It also helps to have a walking stick and good hiking boots.

I have always had my best luck in cool damp muddy ravines were fallen trees have begun to decay on the forest floor or even above ground wedged in amongst each other. They are also found on shaded hillsides. These are my favorite sights but I have found them everywhere there is decaying vegetation like along rivers or in swamps. Leaf litter is also a good source.

I get down on my hands and knees or lay on the forest floor under the logs looking with the magnifier. It will become second nature after a while to ignore the moss, lichen etc to see some thing round or colorful. Our eyes are trained to see motion and it is surprising how you will overlook them. These myxos are only 1-2mm in diameter standing only 3 mm high. Others are taller. Maybe 10 mm height but slender and stalk like. Some are dark and round like rabbit poop. The plasmodium as Ken talks about are not always visible being deep inside the log. It is moving to a sight where it feels that it will have the best chance to propagate. When it does it will stop and send up or out the fruiting bodies that were in my images. These are best seen in the summer months especially if damp. If the plasmodium is found you will have to come back days later to find its fructifications. Once on the surface they will harden and eventually burst releasing their spores to the wind. The spores are in capillitium or nets that are microscopic and are unique to each species which helps in idenfication. Extracting this material for study under the microscope is a great winter project testing your skills with a stereo microscope and slide making.

I have been fortunate only once in actually germinating a spore and seeing a living myxamoeba or swarm cell but you can “grow” your own myxomyctes in moist chamber cultures. Please acquire the excellent book “Myxomycetes A Handbook of Slime Molds” by Steven L Stephenson and Henry Stempen to learn more.

Happy hunting Walt

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:14 am

Interestig that tyre called slime molds, are they allied with fungi?

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 3:06 pm

The short answer is no. In fact the fungi attack the myxomycetes. They are in competing enviornments.

Walt