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 Physarum pezizoideum
SynonymsTrichamphora pezizoidea
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, gregarious, 2–4 mm tall. Sporotheca flat discoid or saucer-shaped, erect or nodding, 0.2–0.4 mm thick and 0.8–1.3 mm broad. Stalk slender, striate, reddish brown, translucent, 1.5–2.5 mm long. Hypothallus discoid, membranous, often inconspicuous. Peridium consisting of a single layer, thin, membranous, thinly covered with lime granules, white or sometimes greyish white, dehiscence irregular, the fragments persistent. Columella absent. Capillitium usually dense, connecting the lower and upper surfaces of the peridium and consisting of branching hyaline tubules connected to small, mostly fusiform lime nodes. Spores dark brown in mass, pale violet brown in transmitted light, minutely spinulose with clusters of more prominent spines, 8–10 µm in diameter. Plasmodium greyish white.
Habitat: Decaying wood, leaf litter, and (in New Zealand) the decaying fronds of nikau palm.
Distribution: Described originally from Asia and now known from Africa (Ukkola 1998) and South America (Farr 1976), this species is apparently most common in the tropics. First reported from New Zealand by Mitchell (1992), based on two specimens from the Kermadec Islands. Also known from Auckland on mainland New Zealand.
Notes: Physarum pezizoideum is easily recognized by the combination of the flat, saucer-shaped ( or "pizza-shaped") sporotheca and the long, reddish-brown stalks. Because this species seems to be restricted to the tropics, its potential ecological distribution in New Zealand is likely to include only the more northern portions of the North Island
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