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 Didymium nigripes
SynonymsPhysarum nigripes
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, up to 2 mm high. Sporotheca globose or hemispherical, erect, somewhat umbilicate beneath, 0.3–0.5 mm in diameter. Peridium membranous, smoky, covered with white calcareous crystals. Columella dark brown, subglobose, calcareous within. Stalk slender, erect, dark brown or blackish, often filled with dark amorphous matter below, the upper portion paler, translucent. Hypothallus discoid, black. Capillitium delicate, the threads brown or colourless, bearing occasional thickenings, sparingly branched and with few anastomoses. Spores dark in mass, pale violaceous brown by transmitted light, minutely warted, the warts often clustered, 7–10 µm in diameter. Plasmodium grey or colourless.
Habitat: Leaf litter and other types of plant debris
Distribution: Considered to be cosmopolitan by Martin & Alexopoulos (1969). First reported from New Zealand by Rawson (1937), based on a specimen from Dunedin. Also known from Auckland, Gisborne, Nelson, and Buller.
Notes: This species and D. iridis are morphologically almost identical and can be separated only on the basis of the somewhat mottled peridium and colour of the stalk and columella.
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