Fungus (or myxo) on bone anyone?

[Gerel]

Hi all,

Where I was working today I found a bone, actually a very decayed ram's horn, that was covered in these small fruit bodies.



The largest were perhaps 4mm tall and they are quite tough and stand up well to handling.

Here's one in cross section (I think I probably introduced the fibres myself)



They seemed to be associated with the bone, they did not appear to be on any of the surrounding material.

I have no idea where to start looking with this one so any help would appreciated.


Steve

[Lancashire Lad]

Hi Steve,

I think your find is Onygena equina which specialises in growing on discarded horn.

Nice find.

Regards,
Mike.

[FungiJohn]

I fully agree with Mike, a very nice find indeed Steve!

John

[Gerel]

Thanks Mike and John,

I knew that WAB wouldn't let me down .

A bit of reading around reveals that this breaks down the keratin of the horn sheath rather than the underlying bone (I'm now slightly paranoid about my hair and fingernails )


Looking at the FRDBI pages I can only see a couple of previous Welsh records which I find surprising considering that one thing we are not short of is sheep.

Steve

[FungiJohn]

There's a similar species which grows on Owl pellets Steve

Onygena corvina



So not only your nails to worry about

John

[Gerel]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

There's a similar species which grows on Owl pellets Steve

Onygena corvina



So not only your nails to worry about

John

So now I've got to worry about my pellets too !!


Seriously though, I've seen and dissected loads of owl pellets without ever seeing these, another one to look out for.


Steve