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 Arcyria insignis
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 crowded within small, scattered to gregarious clusters but occasionally solitary, 0.5–1.5 mm tall. Sporotheca ovoid to cylindrical, bright pink to pale flesh- or salmon-coloured, 0.3–4.0 mm in diameter. Stalk slender, sometimes weak, plicate, reddish, 0.2–4.0 mm long. Hypothallus contiguous for a group of sporangia, shining, colourless to light brown. Peridium persisting in mature fruiting bodies only as a distinct calyculus, the latter small, very shallow, pilate, nearly smooth to spinulose or faintly reticulate within. Capillitium densely reticulate, elastic, remaining attached to the calyculus, colourless or nearly so by transmitted light, consisting of filaments 2–3 µm in diameter, sometimes with bulbous free ends, marked with more or less spirally arranged transverse bands and spines, in part minutely spinulose to nearly smooth. Spores pink in mass, colourless by transmitted light, nearly smooth with a few scattered warts, 6–8 µm in diameter. Plasmodium watery white.
Habitat: Decaying wood, particularly small branches; also occurring on herbaceous stems.
Distribution: Cosmopolitan (Martin & Alexopoulos 1969). First reported from New Zealand by Rawson (1937), based on a specimen from South Canterbury. Also known from Auckland and Bay of Plenty.
Notes: Small clusters of bright pink sporangia that typically occur in small clusters distinguish Arcyria insignis from other species in the genus known from New Zealand.
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