''Willkommlangea reticulata'' is a

slime mold Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to several kinds of unrelated eukaryotic organisms with a life cycle that includes a free-living single-celled stage and the formation of spores. Spores are often produced in macroscopic mul ...

species from the order

Physarales Physarales is an order of Amoebozoa in the class Myxomycetes. It contains three families, the Didymiaceae Didymiaceae is a family of plasmodial slime molds in the order Physarales. Genera The family contains the following four genera: * ' ...

and the only species of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Willkommlangea''. It is common worldwide, but rare in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. The

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referr ...

are possibly the main area of habitat.

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 blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a ver ...

is orange to scarlet. The fruit bodies are mainly plasmodiocarps, which are worm to net-shaped, beige, ochre or yellow to red-brown coloured and red spotted. The strands are occasionally so closely bound together that they produce pseudo-aethaliae, rarely cushion-form fruit bodies, which have a diameter from and expand over several centimetres wide. The hypothallus is inconspicuous or is missing. The sturdy, crossways puckered

peridium The peridium is the protective layer that encloses a mass of spores in fungi. This outer covering is a distinctive feature of gasteroid fungi. Description Depending on the species, the peridium may vary from being paper-thin to thick and rubbe ...

is macroscopic light ochre to dark red-brown, in transmitted light yellowish to red-brown and covered with whitish or yellow to red-brown chalk, which occasionally produce a consistent crust. It opens irregularly lengthways, the edge, however, continues to permanently stick with the substrate. The

capillitium Capillitium (pl. capillitia) is a mass of sterile fibers within a fruit body interspersed among spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended p ...

comprises a few rotund chalk knots, which are linked through transparent to yellowish strings with acanthoid, non-overgrown humps. The capillitium becomes segmented through white to yellowish, partly perforated limestone plates, which are overgrown on the edge of the peridium. The

spores In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, ...

are 8 to 10, rarely 7 to 11 µm and their body is black-brown, in transmitted light purple-brown, on the surface dense and fine-warty.

Habitat

''Willkommlangea reticulata'' are distributed worldwide. It was only occasionally found in Europe. It is believed that the species focuses in the tropics.

Taxonomy

The species was initially known in 1805 as ''Physarum reticulatum'' and first named by

Johannes Baptista von Albertini Johannes Baptista von Albertini (17 February 1769 – 6 December 1831) was a German botanist, mycologist and clergyman of the Moravian Church. He was born in the town of Neuwied. He studied theology in Niesky and at the seminary in Barby. Dur ...

and

Lewis David von Schweinitz Lewis David de Schweinitz (13 February 1780 – 8 February 1834) was a German-American botanist and mycologist. He is considered by some the "Father of North American Mycology", but also made significant contributions to botany. Education B ...

. In 1891

Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (23 June 1843 – 27 January 1907) was a German botanist. Biography Otto Kuntze was born in Leipzig. An apothecary in his early career, he published an essay entitled ''Pocket Fauna of Leipzig''. Between 1863 and 1866 he ...

created for it a separate genus, ''Willkommlangea''. The genus name of ''Willkommlangea'' is in honour of both;

Heinrich Moritz Willkomm Heinrich Moritz Willkomm (29 June 1821, Herwigsdorf – 26 August 1895, Schloss Wartenberg in Wartenberg am Rollberg, Bohemia) was a German academic and botanist. He studied medicine at the University of Leipzig, later being named a prof ...

(1821-1895), who was a German academic and botanist and also

Johan Martin Christian Lange Johan Martin Christian Lange (20 March 1818 – 3 April 1898) was a prominent Danish botanist. He held the post of Librarian at the Botanical library of the University of Copenhagen from 1851 to 1858. He was Director of the Botanical Garden ...

(1818-1898), who was a prominent

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

born botanist.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q2581646, from2=Q18708732 Myxogastria Amoebozoa genera Monotypic eukaryote genera Taxa named by Otto Kuntze Taxa described in 1891 Physaraceae