''Trichia decipiens'' is a worldwide widespread slime mould species from the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Trichiida Trichiales (synonymous with Trichiida) is an order of slime moulds in the phylum Amoebozoa. Trichiales is one of five orders in the group Myxomycetes (also called Myxogastria), or the true plasmodial slime molds. It is also currently categorized ...

Characteristics

The plasmodium 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. 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 In true slime molds (myxogastria), lichens, and in species of the family Clavicipitaceae, the hypothallus is the layer on which the fruit body sits, lying in contact with the substrate. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek root ''hypó'' ("u ...

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 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, f ...

-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 The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

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 extan ...

and

broadleaf tree A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with n ...

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

Trichia ''Trichia'' is a genus of slime molds in the family Trichiidae Trichiales ( synonymous with Trichiida) is an order of slime moulds in the phylum Amoebozoa. Trichiales is one of five orders in the group Myxomycetes (also called Myxogastria) ...

'', ''

Arcyria ''Arcyria'' is a genus of Amoebozoa in the family Arcyriaceae.Cooke, M.C. (1877) Contributions to Mycologica Britannica. The Myxomycetes of Great Britain: 69 (1877)Cribraria ''Cribraria'' is a genus of slime molds from the group of Myxogastria. It comprises about 30 species, some of which are extremely difficult to distinguish. Features The fruiting bodies are usually pedunculated sporangia, a calyculus may be pr ...

'' 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 ''Stemonitis'' is a distinctive genus of slime moulds found throughout the world (except Antarctica). They are characterised by the tall brown sporangia, supported on slender stalks, which grow in clusters on rotting wood. The genus was first des ...

''.

Classification

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

Christiaan Hendrik Persoon Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1 February 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a German mycologist who made additions to Linnaeus' mushroom taxonomy. Early life Persoon was born in South Africa at the Cape of Good Hope, the third child of an immig ...

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 German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

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

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2452607 Myxogastria Amoebozoa species