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 Diderma donkii
SynonymsDiderma donkii var. echinosporum
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 sessile sporangium, crowded or gregarious, pulvinate, rather depressed, 0.3–1.2 mm in diameter and up to 0.2 mm tall. Hypothallus sometimes encrusted with ochraceous coloured lime but usually inconspicuous. Peridium consisting of two layers, the outer layer dull wrinkled or smooth, limy, white or dirty cream when fresh and then fading to ochraceous-brown or beige, crumbling away before the inner layer, the latter colourless and membranous with little or no lime, dehiscence irregular. Columella thin, covering most of the base, rust-brown, often absent. Capillitium consisting of two kinds of tubules, the first thin, dichotomously branched, almost colourless, the second with thick centres, purple-brown with lighter tips. Spores dark brown in mass, purple grey in transmitted light, paler on one side, covered with rather dispersed distinct warts, with small groups of larger warts, 8–10 µm in diameter. Plasmodium creamy buff.
Habitat: Leaf litter and other types of plant debris.
Distribution: Described originally from Europe and also known from Asia (Nannenga-Bremekamp & Yamamoto 1997). Reported from New Zealand by Mitchell (1992), based on a specimen from Coromandel collected in 1945.
Notes: This apparently rare species can be recognised by the ochraceous-brown or beige colour of the mature fruiting body, which is quite unlike that of any other species of Diderma found in New Zealand.
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