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 Comatricha pulchella
SynonymsComatricha pulchella var. fusca
Stemonitis pulchella
Comatricha persoonii
Comatricha persoonii var. fusca
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 or sometimes crowded, 0.7–1.5 mm tall. Sporotheca ovate to cylindrical, acuminate, erect, pale brown or ferruginous, up to 0.5 mm in diameter. Stalk black, usually shorter than the sporotheca, rarely half the total height. Hypothallus thin, membranous, either discoid or contiguous for a group of sporangia. Peridium fugacious. Columella straight, tapering, reaching almost to the apex. Capillitium dense, flexuous, dark brown, with many rather robust main branches that develop successively smaller, freely anastomosing branches and with few free ends. Spores brown in mass, pale lilac-brown by transmitted light, minutely but uniformly punctate, 6.5–8.0 µm in diameter. Plasmodium watery white or colourless.
Habitat: Dead wood, leaf litter, and other types of plant debris
Distribution: Widely distributed in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere and also known from Africa and South America (Martin & Alexopoulos 1969). First reported (as Comatricha pulchella var. fusca) from New Zealand by Rawson (1937), based on a specimen from Dunedin. Also known from Mid Canterbury.
Notes: Comatricha pulchella is rather similar morphologically to C. laxa, but the capillitium of the former has many anastomoses and few free ends, while that of the latter has few anastomoses and numerous free ends. Moreover, sporangia of C. laxa are darker in colour than those of C. pulchella.
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