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LOCATION:
Basecamp Loop
DATE FOUND:
Day 4 – 26 August 2023
On Day 4, I found these by the side of the path on a mossy decaying log.
These slime moulds were present in two forms: one was a light brown with a thin stipe, many with holes at the top presumably where spores had been released.
Others were also light brown but had white pin-mould-like protrusions emanating from them.
EDIT — 06 December 2023
On further research I think that the pin-mould-like protrusions are Stilbella byssiseda.
S. byssiseda is a fungus that parasitises slime moulds [1].
Once parasitised, indentifying the host can be very difficult, but luckily I had found some clear forms — this is Cribraria argillacea.
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On Day 5, I found some dark greyish blue forms.
These were all the same slime mould: starting as a dark greyish blue, stalked pin shape, then turning light brown and being covered in white protrusions.
EDIT — 13 January 2024
These blue forms are the juvenile forms of C. argillacea — if you look very closely, you can see a structure of darker ‘veins’ and a cup-like base which is also darker in colour.
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On Day 6, I found some more with clay buff “heads”, while the rest were entirely covered in white spikes.
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On Day 7, they hadn’t changed much.
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On Day 8, they had mostly diminished.
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REFERENCES
[1] — bioinfo page