Not Ghostbusters slime … but Mycetozoa – slime moulds, more discovered this time in local woods. This species looks to be the same as in the previous post Trichia botrytis. Like all slime moulds, they creep across a surface very slowly devouring food until they run out, and when they run out they will release their spores.
These appear to be in the early stages of ripening. Each Sporocarp – the bright fruiting bodies you see – are around 5 mm (1/4 in) tall and 0.8 mm (3/64 in) in diameter, so they can be easily missed out in the field unless you keep an eye out for them. These were found on the underside of fallen bark on the ground.
Slime season, great!
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🙂
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It is fascinating what results you come up with after a walk in the local woods.
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Thank you, Anne 🙂
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They look like tiny balloons 😊.
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They sure do 🙂
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I just watched a fascinating documentary about slime moulds. They are amazing organisms with very surprising capabilities! If anyone’s interested, it’s called Secret Mind of Slime, a NOVA production on PBS.
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Many thanks for the info, gillyflower! I will look out for it because now I have discovered them I want to learn more! 🙂
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Most welcome! What they discovered is kind of mindblowing, actually. I hope you do get to see it.
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Amazing shots, Pete. They look old-fashioned darning eggs, ever seen one?
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Thank you, Eliza 🙂 No, I had to Google to see what a darning egg was and you are right! 🙂
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Cool, Pete! I’ve not run into these in this early stage and they are cute as a button. 🙂 Love the color too.
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Thank you very much, Steve 🙂 They are really tiny and easy to overlook. I found them by chance by looking under bark that had shed from a dead tree.
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Wonderful pictures. Little bulbs – I wait for the light at night 😉
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🙂 They are like little bulns. Thank you 🙂
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Very cool stuff!
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I learned something new iwth these slime moulds. Thank you 🙂
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