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 Arcyria oerstedii
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, clustered to crowded, initially up to 2 mm high but expanding to 4–10 mm. Sporotheca cylindrical, curved or drooping at maturity, dull crimson to brownish, rarely bright rose or fading to dingy yellowish, 0.3–0.5 mm in diameter. Stalk usually crowded, short, weak. Hypothallus contiguous for a group of sporangia, colourless and often not evident. Peridium persisting in mature fruiting bodies only as a distinct calyculus, the latter obconic, plicate, faintly reticulate and papillose on the inner surface. Capillitium strongly elastic, deciduous, forming a relatively large-meshed reticulum of filaments 3–5 µm in diameter, often with numerous bulbous enlargements, densely spiny, with the larger spines up to 3 µm long. Spores red in mass, pale red or ochraceous by transmitted light, minutely spiny, 7–9 µm in diameter. Plasmodium watery white, turning rosy before fruiting.
Habitat: Decaying wood.
Distribution: Known from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America (Martin & Alexopoulos 1969, Mitchell 1995). First reported from New Zealand by Rawson (1937) based on specimens collected in South Canterbury and Dunedin. Also known from Auckland.
Notes: The conspicuous spines on the capillitium are distinctive and allow this species to be readily distinguished from any of the other members of the genus Arcyria.
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