Specimen 18: Trichia decipiens

Figure 1: Orange fruiting bodies found hiding on the side of a log.

Figure 2: After a few days, fruiting bodies turned dark. (Magnification x60)

Figure 3: Fruiting body is distinictly a sporangium. The stalk is short. (Magnification x108)

Figure 4: The fruiting bodies were often found in crowded clusters. (Magnification x30)

Name: Trichia decipiens
Phylum: Amoebozoa
Family: Trichiidae
Common Name: Slime mold
Collection Date: 10/08/2015
Habitat: On the side of a decaying log, in a crack. 
Location: James H. Barrow Field Station, Hiram, Ohio
Description: Fruiting body is bright orange and round, short stalked sporangium, about 1 mm tall. Bodies found in a huddled cluster. The body turned dark brown a few days after it was collected.
Collector: Linden Glaze

Key used: 
Stephenson, S. L. and Stempen, H. 1994. Myxomycetes: A handbook of slime molds. Timber Press. Portland, Oregon.

Keying steps:
Key to the Orders of Myxomycetes
1. Spore mass within fruiting body, enclosed by a peridium…. 2
2. True capillitium present…. 3

3. Fruiting bodies (<0.3 mm in diameter and >0.5 mm tall), stalked…. 4

4. Spore mass brightly, capillitium conspicuously scultured…. Order Trichales

Order Trichales Key

1. Fruiting body stalked....2

2. Sporangia with well-developed stalk.... 6

6. Sorangia yellowish.... 8

8. Sporangia yellowish.... 9

9. Sporangia typical crowded, short stalked.... 10

10. Capilitium not noticably elastic..... Trichia decipens