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Go to the NZFungi website for more indepth information on Cribraria violacea. Cribraria violacea

Biostatus

Present 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, scattered or gregarious, total height 0.5–2.0 mm. Sporotheca subglobose to subcylindrical, erect, deep purple to purplish bronze or reddish purple, shining with a metallic luster, 0.1–0.3 mm in diameter. Stalk slender, tapering upward, concolourous or darker, usually two-thirds to four-fifths up the total height. Hypothallus discoid, membranous. Peridial net with large meshes and a few flat, widened and irregular nodes, without free ends. Calyculus prominent, occupying up to two-thirds the total height of the sporotheca; dictydine granules dark purple, 1.0–1.5 µm in diameter. Spores bright violet in mass, lilac by transmitted light, minutely warted, 7–8 µm in diameter. Plasmodium purplish black.
Habitat:  
Dead wood, bark of living trees, and leaf litter.
Distribution:  
Apparently cosmopolitan (Martin & Alexopoulos 1969) and sometimes rather common in tropical regions of the world (Stephenson, unpubl. data). Not recorded in print as occurring in New Zealand but appearing in moist chamber culture on a bark sample of Dacrydium cupressinum collected in Northland.
Notes:  
The small size, deep purple colour, and deep calyculus make this an easy species to recognise.