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 Craterium aureum
SynonymsTrichia aurea
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, gregarious to scattered, 0.7–1.5 mm tall. Sporotheca globose to ellipsoidal to obovate, erect, golden yellow to rarely yellow brown or yellowish green or pallid ochraceous, 0.4–0.6 mm in diameter. Peridium thin, especially above, where at maturity it breaks up somewhat reticulately, leaving the more persistent lower portion often with an uneven and finally petaloid margin. Hypothallus small, discoid. Stalk short, yellow to brownish red or greenish. Capillitium dense, yellow but usually fading, the nodes rather small and irregular, often massed in the center as an orange pseudocolumella. Spores black in mass, yellowish brown by transmitted light, minutely warted, 8–10 µm in diameter. Plasmodium clear lemon-yellow.
Habitat: Leaf litter, although known from New Zealand only on decaying fronds of nakau palm.
Distribution: Reported as cosmopolitan by Martin & Alexopoulos (1969) but probably most common in warm temperate and tropical regions of the world. First reported from New Zealand by Stephenson (2003), based on a specimen collected in Auckland. Also known from Northland.
Notes: Craterium aureum is very similar morphologically to Physarum galbeum, a species not known from New Zealand. The yellow colour of the peridium is distinctive.
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