''Trichia decipiens'' is a worldwide widespread

slime mould 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 ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

from the order Trichiida.

Characteristics

The

plasmodium ''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a Hematophagy, blood-feeding insect host (biology), host which then inj ...

is white, becoming pink to red at maturity. The small- to large-group-forming fruiting bodies are shiny olive to yellow-olive or brown, and bear mainly stalked, rarely sessile

sporangia 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 ...

. These are conical to peak-shaped and are up to 3 mm high and 0.6 to 0.8 (rarely up to 1.3) mm wide. The shiny, membraneous hypothallus is wide, and pale to brown in colour. The cylindrical stem is wrinkled, dark brown at the base and becoming gradually lighter toward the top, and is filled with up to 1 mm-long,

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual reproduction, sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for biological dispersal, dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores fo ...

-like bodies. The solid or membranous peridium is yellow, often transparent on thin areas, thickened and deeper beneath, surviving as an initially shallow calyculus. The capillitium from the mass is olive to olive-yellow and is composed of non-overgrown, simple or branched, deeply olive-yellow, 5 to 6 μm thick elaters, which stand in relief as three to five overhanging spiral strands and become pointed towards the end. The spore mass is olive-yellow to olive, in transmitted light appearing pallidly olive-yellow, occasionally paler. The spores are 10 to 13 μm in diameter, and have a largely reticulated surface, the remainder being densely warty or prickly.

Habitat and ecology

The species has a worldwide distribution. ''T. decipiens'' slime molds live on the deadwood of

conifers Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

and broadleaf trees year-round. The slime mould is associated with, among others, species of the genera ''

Trichia ''Trichia'' is a genus (biology), genus of slime molds in the family (biology), family Trichiaceae. , there are 34 species in the genus. Species *''Trichia affinis'' *''Trichia agaves'' *''Trichia alpina'' *''Trichia antartica'' *''Trichia bo ...

'', '' Arcyria'' and '' Cribraria'' as well as ''

Lycogala epidendrum ''Lycogala epidendrum'', commonly known as wolf's milk or groening's slime, is a cosmopolitan species of myxogastrid amoeba which is often mistaken for a fungus. The aethalia, or fruiting bodies, occur either scattered or in groups on damp rott ...

'' and '' Stemonitis typhina''.

Classification

''Trichia decipiens'' was first described as ''Arcyria decipiens'' in 1795 by

Christiaan Hendrik Persoon Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (31 December 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a Cape Colony mycologist who is recognized as one of the founders of mycology, mycological Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. Early life Persoon was born in Cape Colony at ...

on the basis of a 1778 collection from a forest in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

. Macbride reclassified the species in 1899 into the genus ''

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2452607 Myxogastria Myxogastria species