Red Hyphomycete?

[Chris Johnson]

I found this recently on grass-like blades in a Sphagnum bog.

Lots of it, easily seen with a hand lens. Bases are 63-80 x 53-63 microns. Filaments 97-148 x 6.4-6.9 microns (septate).

I have exaggerated the lighting on one image to show the basal structure which looks pseudoparenchymatous. No conidiospores found.

Not easy to search without knowing the host.

Interested in what others make of it.

Regards, Chris

[Chris Yeates]

Hi

the answer (or possible answer) would be in what the conidia produced by the conidiophores (the filaments) are like and how they are produced. Even then unless they are particularly characterful it might prove tricky.

I have often come across something very like like this – almost invariably effete – on mat grass while looking for Leptosphaeria nardi. Those dark reddish brown basal pads can, under a handlens, look very like the pseudothecia of L. nardi : http://www.ascofrance.com/search_recolte/4073” class=”bbcode_url”>http://www.ascofrance.com/search_recolte/4073.

I can’t see any conidia in your images either, there are some diatoms and possibly desmids though. The production of conidia could well take place during a very short spell, under optimal conditions, with the pads and defunct conidiophores much more long-lasting.

not very helpful I fear

Chris

[Chris Johnson]

Thanks Chris, … always helpful even without a result.

I called them filaments as I was working on freshwater algae and thought this might have been an epiphyte, bun no chloroplasts found. Rather than epiphytic, the basal cells seem embedded.

Diatoms I ignore (not enough lifetimes) but the green ones are a cyanobacterium: Chroococcus turgidus.

Regards, Chris

[Chris Yeates]

Chris Johnson wrote:

Diatoms I ignore (not enough lifetimes) . . .

Regards, Chris

I know – it’s so sad, I have diatom literature, and the perfect ‘scope for them, and they are gloriously beautiful . . . when I hear people say “I’m bored” I want to say “I’ll happily take 5 years off you” as there are so many things I want to explore.

In my last job (which I started as a natural sciences curator in local government), before I retired, I had access to collections like these: http://www.victorianmicroscopeslides.com/slidedia.htm” class=”bbcode_url”>http://www.victorianmicroscopeslides.com/slidedia.htm but no time to study them as colleagues left and one had to take on more and more responsibilities,

hey-ho – price of everything and value of nothing eh?

C

[Chris Johnson]

[/quote]hey-ho – price of everything and value of nothing eh?

C

[/quote]

Indeed.

I’ve been looking at algae recently, marine and freshwater, and a colleague advised me to ignore diatoms “as they will take over your life”. Then this morning I received an e-mail from him suggesting I buy this: http://www.koeltz.com/product.aspx?pid=209100

Best, Chris

[Chris Yeates]

Chris Johnson wrote:

. . . . a colleague advised me to ignore diatoms “as they will take over your life” . . . .

Best, Chris

Hmmm – thank heavens that never happens with the fungi

C

[Author]

Posts