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 Arcyria denudata
SynonymsArcyria punicea
Clathrus denudatus
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, usually gregarious to crowded but occasionally scattered, 2–6 mm tall. Sporotheca ovate to cylindrical, pinkish red to brick-red but weathering to brown, 0.4–1.2 mm wide. Stalk slender, striate, the same colour as the sporotheca or darker, 0.5–1.5 mm long. Hypothallus either small and inconspicous under individual sporangia or contiguous for a group of sporangia, sometimes silvery but often not evident. Peridium persisting in mature fruiting bodies only as a shallow calyculus, the latter shining, plicate, smooth or nearly so. Capillitium consisting of a network of threads 3–4 µm in diameter and marked with cogs and half-rings, firmly attached to the whole inner surface of the calyculus. Spores red or reddish brown in mass, colourless by transmitted light, with a few scattered warts, 6–8 µm in diameter. Plasmodium white.
Habitat: Decaying wood and (less commonly) bark.
Distribution: Cosmopolitan (Martin & Alexopoulos 1969). First reported (as Arcyria punicea) from New Zealand by Colenso (1887), based on a specimen from Hawkes Bay. Also known from Kermadec Islands (Oliver 1911), Auckland, Waikato, Taranaki (Lister & Lister 1905), Wellington, Nelson, South Canterbury (Lister & Lister 1905), Dunedin (Lister & Lister 1905), and Southland.
Notes: This is one of the more commonly encountered myxomycetes throughout much of the world. Arcyria incarnata, a very similar species morphologically, can be distinguished by its capillitium, which is loosely attached only to the center of the calyculus and from which it is readily detached.
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