Alwisia morula G. Moreno, Leontyev, D. W. Mitch., S. L. Stephenson, C. Rojas & Schnittler 2014
Creators: name: Lloyd, Sarah J.
name: Leontyev, Dmytro
name: Vigus, Paula
name: Schnittler, Martin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Protozoa
Mycetozoa
Myxomycetes
Cribrariales
Tubiferaceae
Alwisia
Alwisia morula

description: Alwisia morula G. Moreno, Leontyev, D.W. Mitch., S.L. Stephenson, C. Rojas & Schnittler, in Leontyev, Schnittler, Moreno, Stephenson, Mitchell & Rojas, Mycologia 106(5):939 (2014) emend. Lloyd, Leontyev, Vigus & Schnittler Fig. 5.
Fructifications composed of several hundred separate sporocarps up to 3 mm high, these stalked or nearly sessile, gathered in compact groups which stretch over 10 cm and may attain 5–8 mm high, since sporocarps are densely crowded and may develop over each other (Fig. 5A). Hypothallus well developed, membranous, reddish brown to dark brown, common for a group of sporocarps, forming erect tapered projections, these gradually turning into stalks. Stalks sinuous, reddish brown, dark brown at the base, 1–4 mm long, forming a weave under a continuous layer of sporothecae; thin, flexuous, irregularly gyrose, occasionally branching at an acute angle (Fig. 5I). Sporothecae ochraceous with brownish, golden or olivaceous tints, 0.8–1.3 mm long, 0.6–1.2 mm diam, conspicuously varying in size within one fruiting (Fig. 5A), inversely droplet-shaped to obovoid or almost globose; mostly free but sometimes attached to each other at the widest part. Basal part of the peridium ochraceous-brown, membranous, glossy, somewhat plicate (Fig. 5B). Upper part of the peridium light beige-ochraceous, nearly fugacious, forming rounded, iridescent platelets surrounded by dull, non-differentiated areas (Figs. 5C–D); this part of peridium may resemble a slice of porous Swiss cheese, being covered with hemispherical pits, grooves and openings, connecting with the internal contents of the capillitium (Fig. 5E). The surface of the peridium may have longitudinal grooves, presumably representing residual capillitium elements (Fig. 5B). Capillitium vestigial, occurring in 5–10% of sporothecae, represented by smooth, redbrown, cylindrical tubes with uneven surface, wide at the upper part, gradually tapering to the base of the sporotheca, nearly non-branching, forming narrowing free ends (Fig. 5H) or reaching the base of sporotheca (Figs. 5F, G); visible from the outside as holes (Figs. 5C–E) and longitudinal grooves (Fig. 5B) on the peridium. Spore mass light brownish ochraceous. Spores light brownish in transmitted light, (5.9–)6.2–6.8(–7.1) mm diam, banded-reticulate, with a smooth area. Plasmodium not observed.
Material examined. COSTA RICA, SAN JOSÉ, Dota canyón, Jardín de Dota, environs of Santa María Dota, ca. 2150 m a.s.l. Mountain forest, dead wood with mosses, 9.71250N, 83.97639W, 11 Nov 1998, leg. Alejandro Jiménez (see Supplementary file 1).
Habitat and distribution. Known from Costa Rica, where it occurs on dead wood of coniferous and broad-leaf trees.
description: Published as part of Lloyd, Sarah J., Leontyev, Dmytro, Vigus, Paula & Schnittler, Martin, 2024, Repent for Alwisia repens: emended descriptions of two species of Alwisia (Myxomycetes) thought to lack a capillitium, pp. 289-300 in Phytotaxa 634 (3) on pages 295-296, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.634.3.7, http://zenodo.org/record/13878806