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 Physarum dictyospermum
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 (or rarely sessile) sporangium, scattered, 1.5–2.0 mm tall. Sporotheca globose to lenticular, erect, 0.5–0.6 mm in diameter. Stalk slender, black, enclosing dark amorphous material, sometimes yellow above when dusted with lime granules, 0.1–0.7 mm long. Peridium consisting of a single layer, membranous, rather firm, dull orange, dark chestnut or olive brown, glossy, beset with minute yellow crystalline bodies. Columella black, conical or clavate, varying from short to two thirds the height of the sporotheca. Capillitium dense, consisting of small, fusiform nodes connected by colourless tubules, the nodes orange red. Spores dark brown to almost black in mass, pale purplish grey by transmitted light, reticulate, with 5–6 meshes to the hemisphere, or the reticulation irregular and sometimes incomplete, 10–11 µm in diameter. Plasmodium unknown.
Habitat: Decaying wood.
Distribution: This species was described originally from a specimen collected on Stewart Island (Lister & Lister 1905) and has since been reported from Australia, Europe, and South America (Martin & Alexopoulos 1969).
Notes: This species has been collected only a few times and is apparently rather rare. Because the prominently reticulate spores are so distinctive, Physarum dictyospermum is unlikely to be confused with any other species. The very limited distribution data suggest that it is confined largely to temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere.
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