Colourful myxo on beech

[MattPrince]

I'm assuming this is a myxo - found inside a hole in dead ?beech? at Watersmeet, North Devon.

Produced prolific amounts of spores when disturbed.

Are there any special techniques needed to view the spores under a compound scope?

Thanks for looking
Matt

[Lancashire Lad]

Hi Matt,

I'd hazard a guess at Arcyria species. (Looks like A.denudata, but obviously can't be certain).

As for looking at spores, I can only give you my limited experience.

Depending on how dry the sporocarp is when you obtain the spores, their shape may have altered significantly. (I've had them looking for all the world like miniature coffee beans).

I generally mount them in a drop of water, in which they rapidly (within seconds) return to their normal shape.

It can sometimes be difficult to get the spores to actually mix with the water, and they might resolutely float to the very edge of the droplet.

If that occurs, I sometimes add the tiniest possible drop of Isopropyl alcohol, which removes the surface tension allowing them to sink. (NB: this might slightly affect the size, and needs to be taken into account if accurate measurement is being undertaken).
Or, just add a coverslip and work around the seemingly inevitable tiny bubbles that appear.

Up to x200 very little can be seen other than the general shape.
At x400 hints of the surface ornamentation can be seen.
At x600 ornamentation can be seen slightly clearer.
At x1000 (Oil immersion) - Definitely the best for seeing ornamentation detail.

I haven't yet used stains etc. with myxo spores, but would welcome any info that others might be able to add, on which, (if any), stains are useful when observing myxo spores.

Regards,
Mike.

[FungiJohn]

I agree with Mike ... Arcyria denudata for sure

John

[MattPrince]

Awesome. Thanks guys.
Ill give the spores a try as Mike suggests - dampened but at x600, not got to grips with oil immersion yet..

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by MattPrince

.... not got to grips with oil immersion yet..

Hi Matt,

I've only just started dabbling with oil immersion after several months (since getting the scope) of purposefully avoiding it.

But the first time I tried it, it was an absolute revelation - the difference in the amount of detail that I could see was phenomenal.

I agree that it's a bit of a pain - the lighting needs to be finely tuned, and you have to be very careful not to get any oil onto the wrong lens - (for any given specimen, use oil immersion as the very final stage once you are certain that you don't need to go back to lower magnifications) - but now that I've started using it, it will most definitely be an important part of my spore observations from now on.

Regards,
Mike.