Tiny yellow dung cup ID

[diggleken]

This was on one quite fresh sheep poo yesterday evening - and only on one too.
It appears to be a cup type, with short stem, all yellow, size is pin head or less - very difficult to see and to photograph (yes, you can tell, sorry!)
I cant find it to ID - any help out there please?
many thanks
Ken

[NickCantle]

Sweetcorn?

[Chris Yeates]

hi

probably a Cheilymenia species (they have marginal hairs - very difficult to tell whether there are any from this photograph)

then it's a question of micro-examination, how the hairs are rooted etc.

if you want, collect some, dry it, PM me

cheers

Chris

[diggleken]

Thanks Chris,
supposedly sunny tomorrow here, so off up Alphin and Chew on the moors, will come back down via the dung site at Dovestones and get it in a plastic bag to dry.
then PM if successful!
Cheers
ken

[diggleken]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Sweetcorn?

i'll send you some too Nick . . . . .
Ken

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by diggleken

i'll send you some too Nick . . . . .
Ken

sweetcorn relish eh, Nick! yum

[NickCantle]

Eeewwww guys! Ewwww!

[diggleken]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Sweetcorn?

HA HA HA! only just got it Nick - old age you see.
I cracked up when I realised!
Nice one.
Ken

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by diggleken

This was on one quite fresh sheep poo yesterday evening - and only on one too.
It appears to be a cup type, with short stem, all yellow, size is pin head or less - very difficult to see and to photograph (yes, you can tell, sorry!)
I cant find it to ID - any help out there please?
many thanks
Ken

hi Ken

I have had a chance to look at your sample, and am fairly certain as to what it is . . . what confused me at first was the type of dung . . . . are you absolutely sure that this is sheep dung? it doesn't look like it and the fungus I think this is occurs solely on cattle dung - are there any cattle in the area?

the fungus lacks hairs, has a granular exterior, spores are mostly 15-16 microns long and the paraphyses are swollen at the tip and contain orange granules:


I think this is Coprobia granulata, a disco in the order Pezizales (I note that Index Fungorum now treats it as a Cheilymenia, but for now I will call it by the other name, as that is what it appears under in most of the books); but this is a species of cattle dung

I also noted a couple of stray spores of a Ascobolus species - one can be seen here (pigmented spores with minute ornamentation, and in this case considerably larger):


it might be interesting to see if this sample can be rehydrated, and what might then appear . . . .

cheers

Chris

[diggleken]

Hi Chris - brilliant, I'm impressed!
No chance of any other poo - in the field for life tree enclosure, only sheep in there to keep grass down - and it was defo sheep poo.
Many thanks
Ken