''Comatricha nigra'' is a widespread species of
slime mold
Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to a polyphyletic assemblage of unrelated eukaryotic organisms in the Stramenopiles, Rhizaria, Discoba, Amoebozoa and Holomycota clades. Most are near-microscopic; those in the Myxogastria ...
s in the family
Amaurochaetaceae
Amaurochaetaceae is a family of slime molds in the order Stemonitidales.
Genera
*''Amaurochaete''
*'' Brefeldia''
*''Comatricha''
*'' Enerthenema''
*''Stemonaria''
*''Stemonitopsis
''Stemonitopsis'' is a genus of slime molds in the family ...
. It grows on decayed wood on the
forest floor
The forest floor, also called detritus or wikt:duff#Noun 2, duff, is the part of a forest ecosystem that mediates between the living, aboveground portion of the forest and the mineral soil, principally composed of dead and decaying plant matter ...
. The
sporangium
A sporangium (from Late Latin, ; : sporangia) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a unicellular organism, single cell or can be multicellular organism, multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungus, fungi, and many ot ...
reaches a total height of 2–8 mm, while the black, hair-like stalk is usually two to six times the length of the sporangium.
The color of the sporangium varies as a function of its stage of development, from translucent white, to pink, bright red, and eventually black.
References
*
Myxogastria species
Myxogastria
{{Amoebozoa-stub