Herbivore dung - Have a dung day!

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by Fungus Ken

Unfortunately I'm not sure the plumbing on my laptop is up to it. I wouldn't want to clog up my pipes, or whatever it is these computers have under the dashboard. (Forgive me if my IT jargon is getting a bit too technical here.)

Ken

I'd stick with fungi and looking down the microscope Ken .. Far easier

[CapAndBracket]

Originally Posted by flaxton

JP
Try http://www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/files/WEB_Misc_Publ.pdf on this page you will find Richardson & Watling (1997) Keys to Fungi on Dung, new edn ISBN 0 9527704 23
This may help in sorting your finds.

Mal

Thanks for your interest, that is the one book i do have, and it is certainly useful. But as in a previous post the common problems remain, for that one the fruit body seemed to fit one description and the spores another, i'm being very cautious with this as i want to get things right and contamination is an issue, one squash i microscoped at the weekend seemed to have the (one) spore of a Sporormia.sp within it, a genus i haven't found on the dung yet!

Cheers J.P.

[Fungus Ken]

Another useful reference book for fungi on dung is Microfungi on Miscellaneous Substrates by Ellis and Ellis.

The original edition went out of print but there is an updated version which was published in 1998.

It also covers fungi on bryophytes, fungi on fungi, fungi on burnt ground, fungi on soil etc with keys, descriptions of the species and sketches.

It also seems to be still available eg from Summerfield Books:

Microfungi on Miscellaneous Substrates - An Identification Handbook 246pp, drawings, keys. Considers those fungi which occur on mosses, other fungi, soil, dung etc. Descriptions of about 730 species and over 500 original line illustrations. Corrected

I hadn't heard of Sporormia before your post but good old Ellis and Ellis includes Sporormia fimetaria... which grows on dung of herbivores.

Ken

[Fungus Ken]

PS Just realised I could have left out half of my post above because the web link to the Summerfield Books site says most of it.

Guess I should start previewing my posts.

Ken

[CapAndBracket]

Originally Posted by Fungus Ken

Another useful reference book for fungi on dung is Microfungi on Miscellaneous Substrates by Ellis and Ellis.

The original edition went out of print but there is an updated version which was published in 1998.

It also covers fungi on bryophytes, fungi on fungi, fungi on burnt ground, fungi on soil etc with keys, descriptions of the species and sketches.

It also seems to be still available eg from Summerfield Books:

Microfungi on Miscellaneous Substrates - An Identification Handbook 246pp, drawings, keys. Considers those fungi which occur on mosses, other fungi, soil, dung etc. Descriptions of about 730 species and over 500 original line illustrations. Corrected

I hadn't heard of Sporormia before your post but good old Ellis and Ellis includes Sporormia fimetaria... which grows on dung of herbivores.

Ken

Well thank you very much Ken (you da man) that will certainly be ordered at the weekend (if not tommorow).

The recent Richardson and Watling list 6 species of Sporormia, the Ascospore i seemed to have in view matched S. ovina, (with the spore consisting of 4 cells) the S.fimetaria you mention is apparently 16-20 celled. They are certainly distinctive. (well until we find something similar).

Cheers J.P.

[CapAndBracket]

Originally Posted by flaxton

They are already able to take DNA from a soil sample and say this soil has "Boletus edulis Boletus impolitus and a Boletus that has never been found yet" in the it
so the DNA probe may not be that far away.
Keep an eye on EBAY

Mal

I certainly look forward to the DNA probe for the enthusiast, but i'm not sure it will make ID any easier (maybe more complex) first we have to decide from the several megabase's of nucleotides which section we are going to use as our template.
As you rightly point out already a teaspoon of soil will produce 100s of species, some new to science, we may have some suprises in the way species will be reclassified with the new evidence,
(convergent evolution can lead to species looking very similar even though distantly related because they have adjusted to fit the particular environment).
On the other hand what appears to be one species may contain two types that for instance use differnt enzymes to break down their chosen substrate,
do we see this as enough to denote seperate species.

Its going to be fun, maybe the next fungi encycopedia will have a section of DNA next to each species in the form of a barcode.

Cheers J.P.

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by CapAndBracket

The recent Richardson and Watling list 6 species of Sporormia

My copy (1997 edition) seems to have just 3 species of Sporormia with one additional unnamed Sporormia sp..

The rest are in Sporormiella. Ellis and Ellis lists 19 species of Sporormiella, including Sporormiella ovina which probably equate to those in Richardson and Watling, though I haven't checked.

Ellis and Ellis probably won't make life easier but at least it gives you other options.

I would say you can never have too many fungi books... although I'm pretty sure my wife doesn't concur with this.

Ken

[CapAndBracket]

You are right, there's me associating diagrams with names on same page,
Abreviation S.species dosen't mean Sporormia.species, but Sporormiella.species. (must try harder).

Cheers J.P.

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by CapAndBracket

Abreviation S.species dosen't mean Sporormia.species, but Sporormiella.species. (must try harder).

Cheers J.P.

Well you were one up on me just having heard of Sporormia.

Ken

[PMG]

Originally Posted by Fungus Ken

Still over 4 weeks to go with the cast on my leg.

Once I can ditch the crutches things will be a lot easier.

Ken

Let me know if you want someone to push your wheelchair around - say somewhere easy like Risley - fraid I don't know any of the fungi spots nearer to you - as in whether chair pushing would be poss? Am away till beg of April. Do you think you will make the Ainsdale foray - they are going in from the Freshfiled end this this time...........

Pauline