plasmodium of an unidentified white slime mold
Cool, eh? Can you ID? Much like Hermione in Goblet of Fire, I feel like the library, er, internet, has finally failed me. Just as well, considering I never even knew moving (yes, moving!!!) amoeba-like slime molds (mold being a misnomer) existed until I posted a yellow-colored many-headed slime (Physarum polycephalum) over 3 years ago. I haven't been able to tack down an ID on this small white beauty. Oh, I found plenty of other slime molds, which all seem to be peculiarly named like tapioca slime (Brefeldia maxima), chocolate tube slime (Stemonitis splendens), pretzel slime (Hemitrichia serpula), and dog vomit slime (Fuligo septica). Lovely. It doesn't help with ID that slimes change quite a bit as they age, as Stevie Smith captured so well over the course of 60 hours. I found his pictures through this Flickr Hive Mind that has some beautiful pictures (Is "hive mind" supposed to be like a shared BBC's Sherlock "mind palace"?). Interesting to note, this slime completely avoided the redwood cones, and yet it seemed to like the needles. Do the cones taste bad? Or had they only recently fallen? I wished I had remembered to go back and check how this one progressed after a couple hours. How quickly do slime molds move in real time?
4 comments:
Currently also being entranced and flabbergasted by slime molds. "Plasmodial" to boot. Do you think the long dry period is making all kinds of life go crazy with growing or is it just us noticing tiny things after such a long absence?
I believe our abundant sightings are due to a combination of several factors. I'll admit I'm out and about as much as possible now with the rains, because it was just so dreary dry before that I didn't want to go... so, of course, I'm seeing more now. Our memory is fickle of what it used to be like. I also think lots of life have been impatiently waiting for the starter's pistol of rain. We may be getting an overlap of processes that should have started back with November rains, plus the usual mid-March increased daylight hours. Then, on the other end, there are those who took advantage of the mild winter. I spotted my first pelagic cormorant chick today mid-March, and last year I didn't see the first ones hatch until late-May.
I didn't know you could ID with an unsporulated plasmodium, but maybe someone will recognize what it "probably" is, given the types of slimes we have in our area. If you can return to the scene, maybe you can catch it sporulating. I'm jealous; I haven't had a good slime mold encounter all winter.
John, I miss your 'shroom sets on your blog.
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