Herbivore dung - Have a dung day!

[NickCantle]

I need your assistance J.P;

Which Coprinus is this I found t'other day growing on Horse dung?



Nick

[CapAndBracket]

I would think that is Coprinus niveus, (bet it's had a name change)
nice image isn't it marvelous
the way they roll back from the edge.

Cheers J.P.

[flaxton]

Originally Posted by CapAndBracket

I would think that is Coprinus niveus, (bet it's had a name change)
nice image isn't it marvelous
the way they roll back from the edge.

Cheers J.P.

Of course it has Coprinopsis nivea

Mal

[CapAndBracket]

Just written it in my book for next time

Cheers J.P.

[CapAndBracket]

X40

Whaterver is growing is growing fast, the above/below showing advancing hypae branching.


X100


X1000

The agar took a stain ok, at this magnifycation it is plain to see the hyphae are septate (i tend to think of this as latin for seperate) (arrowed). The black dividing lines across the hyphae are cellular divisions (not all fungi have these and they come in various types), they apparently don't completely block of the passage of nutrients (having small perforations) but do seperate the nuclear material in each cell.


Cheers J.P.

[NickCantle]

I love this thread! What excellent info J.P

[kiltoncomp]

Originally Posted by CapAndBracket

I would think that is Coprinus niveus, (bet it's had a name change)
nice image isn't it marvelous
the way they roll back from the edge.

Cheers J.P.

is this the same fungi ?? it was also growing on horse dung in clumber park
apologies for poor picture quality.




brian,

[fairplay]

Which thread Nick ? - there's lot's in that photo !!

Neil.

[CapAndBracket]

Originally Posted by kiltoncomp

is this the same fungi ?? it was also growing on horse dung in clumber park
apologies for poor picture quality.




brian,

Coprinopsis niveus would be my ID of those from a distance, they are quite distinctive.

Anoyingly as i now have some agar and wish to see if these will germinate on it they seemed to have dissapeared from the water meadows where they were abundant all summer. ho hum.

Cheers J.P.

[CapAndBracket]

I don't know if anyone has experience with this sort of microscopy but it's obvious that a very thin sample is prefered at high magnifycation.

So agar is transparent but fairly thick substrate (easy to pick bits out and squash) but not ideal for thin sections.

I'm wondering if dropping a slide cover on the agar may result in hypae growing along the interface between glass and agar and some may stay attached when cover slip is removed.

You can tell i'm in the area of unknown (to me) and experimenting, just to add a touch of madness/scientific curiosity i'm also going to try growing fungi on jelly as it is cheap and readily available, will try oyster fungi when i get a chance.

Cheers J.P.

[kiltoncomp]

Originally Posted by CapAndBracket

Coprinopsis niveus would be my ID of those from a distance, they are quite distinctive.

Anoyingly as i now have some agar and wish to see if these will germinate on it they seemed to have dissapeared from the water meadows where they were abundant all summer. ho hum.

Cheers J.P.

thanks for that , i found these a couple of years ago ,and although horse droppings are plentiful in clumber i've not seen any before or since and i'm in clumber several times a week,

thanks again, Brian

[CapAndBracket]

Seen these before on deer pellets and somewhat confused but today sused they are Trichobolus sphaerosporus. (from Ellis + Ellis) and on the web Mycokey.


X40

At X40 they yellow blob with spines is a bit clearer to see, the spines are refered to as setae (i tend to thik of this as bristle though it can be spines or hairs).


X400

At X400 it is apparent the setae are made up of more than one cell (something of a comparmentalised structuer can be seen), this can be important for ID as some fungal units may be one expanded cell in some species.


X1000

Searching around for asci and paraphyses was a forlorn experience, then i found this species has just one multi spored asci and no paraphyses are in evidence. Putting the deer pellets in a moist chamber as there may be other species (smaller) on the substrate, fishing around with pins is the only way to seperate them out.


Cheers J.P.

[Stewy]

Originally Posted by CapAndBracket

You can tell i'm in the area of unknown (to me) and experimenting, just to add a touch of madness/scientific curiosity i'm also going to try growing fungi on jelly as it is cheap and readily available, will try oyster fungi when i get a chance.

Cheers J.P.

Blimey JP, I know that NickC hasn't got a white lab coat but I'm pretty sure that you've got one!!!!

[CapAndBracket]

I had to leave the lab coat behind when they let me out.

Someone on a different thread mentioned pink mycelium on a fungus, well agar plates can be turned over and the hypae are red behind the advancing front.



Little do we know of what's below our feet when out wandering.

Cheers J.P.

[CapAndBracket]

Pony buns were todays substrate.


X40

These have lots of peripheral setae, the one on the right is opening out to allow for ejection of spores at maturity. (above it is tiny one forming).


X100

Squashed at higher magnifycation (to get more in focus) you can see just how well armoured these are.


X1000

At x1000 you can see the fruit body is stuffed with asci (containing spores) and paraphyses (providing the supporting structure), the spores aren't quite ripe but from the length of the setae these are Lasiobolus macrotrichus (Richardson + Watling).



Cheers J.P.

[CapAndBracket]

Yesterdays deer pellets had a night in a moist chamber and back under the scope today.


X20

These not unlike onions in shape but much smaller (<0.5mm), are partly immersed in substrate with their black neck showing (some arrowed in photo).
This shape of fruit bodies are called perithecia, as these appear to have no setae they seem to be Sordaria.sp (most likely S.humana).
(any macro photogropers could get some far better images of such species)


X1000

The spores appear to have no sticky appendages further supporting the identity (Ellis + Ellis),
along with size range.


Cheers J.P.

[CapAndBracket]

X1000

Perplexed is the word today.
With sticky appendages these are a Podospora.sp, at around 60x30 um they should be P.intestinacea but the appendages are far to short for that species, maybe they aren't quite ripe, the pale ones are unripe having not developed the dark coating as yet.

Cheers J.P.

[CapAndBracket]

White discs on a pony bun are enough to get anyone excited, but they sure
are small, at the moment thinking a species that should be on wood but
have them in a moist chamber to see if there is more development.

Cheers J.P.

[CapAndBracket]

A drop of cow dung spread on agar and pink tufts appear maybe not
to interesting in itself.

But research leads me to believe this is most likely Neurospora crassa
a fungi imperfecti in that it wil produce a conidial mass of spores that
look like a mold but this is infact the asexual stage of an Ascomycete.

Fungi can be really odd, it seems these will quite happily keep reproducing
like this until one day they happen to grow next to a member of the same
species but of a different mating type, when the two will combine and
produce diploid spores in a perithicium much like the Sordaria.sp posted a
few days ago.

This shouldn't take many days to grow and will try for some images of
conidial spores, This of course relates to explaining the asexual fungus
Oligoporus fuliginoides in another thread that is called a postia.sp if it
finds a mate. That is a polyporus basidiomycete.

Cheers J.P.

[fairplay]

I may be wrong, but another name for Fungi Imperfecti was Deuteromycetes - but I believe both names have now been superceded by the use of the term 'Mitosporic Fungi'

It's heavy man !!

Neil.

[CapAndBracket]

Originally Posted by fairplay

I may be wrong, but another name for Fungi Imperfecti was Deuteromycetes - but I believe both names have now been superceded by the use of the term 'Mitosporic Fungi'

It's heavy man !!

Neil.

Good call which is logical.

to call them mitosporic (as the difference is they don't go through meiosis)
makes sense.
This does explain why they are hereothalic (hetero meaning different), so they need a different mating type to come along before they can make a
fruit body, being mitospores the spores are effectively all clones.

Cheers J.P.

[CapAndBracket]

I've heard of overcrowding so wonder just how many pilobolus can get on one bunny currant.



X20

Strange, these possible neurospora forming on agar, initially they seem to cause a blister to rise above the general surface and then turn pink, gess it's one way of getting up obove surroundings for spore dispersal.

Cheers J.P.

[village wench]

I watch this thread with something akin to morbid curiosity,I obviously don't have the skill to contribute myself,but thought that some amongst you might be interested in these links as they refer to dung fungi.
The first is a paper in the open access journal PLoS ONE...
PLoS ONE: The Fastest Flights in Nature: High-Speed Spore Discharge Mechanisms among Fungi
In this study, we have used ultra-high-speed video cameras running at maximum frame rates of 250,000 fps to analyze the entire launch process in four species of fungi that grow on the dung of herbivores. For the first time we have direct measurements of launch speeds and empirical estimates of acceleration in these fungi. Launch speeds ranged from 2 to 25 m s−1 and corresponding accelerations of 20,000 to 180,000 g propelled spores over distances of up to 2.5 meters. In addition, quantitative spectroscopic methods were used to identify the organic and inorganic osmolytes responsible for generating the turgor pressures that drive spore discharge.


The next is a link to video on youtube of the spores being released,showing an acceleration of 180,000 g,the fastest ever recorded acceleration in a living thing.
Pilobolus: Ultra-High-Speed Fungus Spore Discharge
YouTube - Pilobolus: Ultra-High-Speed Fungus Spore Discharge