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 Trichia erecta
BiostatusPresent in region - Indigenous. Non endemic
Article: Stephenson, S.L. (2003). Myxomycetes of New Zealand. Fungi of New Zealand. Ngā Harore o Aotearoa 3: xiv + 238 p. Hong Kong: Fungal Diversity Press.
Description: Fruiting body a stalked sporangium, scattered or loosely gregarious and sometimes in clusters of two or three, 1.0–2.6 mm tall. Sporotheca globose or turbinate, nut-brown, 0.5–0.7 mm in diameter, the upper portion often displaying broad yellow bands arranged in a reticulate pattern. Stalk cylindrical, stout, 0.1–1.0 mm high and 0.2–0.3 mm thick, dark brown, opaque. Hypothallus usually discoid and inconspicuous but sometimes contiguous for a group of sporangia. Peridium consisting of two layers, nut-brown, the upper portion of the sporotheca displaying conspicuous yellow bands arranged in a reticulate pattern, with the latter representing the membranous and translucent inner layer of the peridium, and the darker portions delimited by these bands constituting the granular thickenings that make up the outer layer of the peridium. Capillitium bright yellow to orange-yellow, elaters cylindrical, with short tapering ends, 3.5–4.0 µm in diameter, bearing four spirals marked with short and sometimes scattered spines. Spores bright yellow to orange-yellow in mass, pale yellow by transmitted light, minutely warted, 11–13 µm in diameter. Plasmodium white.
Habitat: Decaying wood and dead bark.
Distribution: Predominantly a myxomycete of coniferous forests of North America (Martin & Alexopoulos 1969) and only rarely reported elsewhere (Nannenga-Bremekamp 1991). First reported from New Zealand by Cheeseman & Lister (1915), based on a specimen collected in Bay of Plenty. Also known from Dunedin.
Notes: Although the general aspect of Trichia erecta is similar to that of T. botrytis, the former is smaller and has a brighter coloured spore mass as well as elaters with short tapering tips (the elaters of T. botrytis have long tapering tips).
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