JungleDragon is a nature and wildlife community for photographers, travellers and anyone who loves nature. We're genuine, free, ad-free and beautiful.

Join

Myxogastria (Badhamia utricularis) Looking like a layer of fuzz at first sight, this slime mold was growing on the underside of a very damp eucalyptus log. The individual structures were not discernible so it was a wonderful surprise when I could view them in the photos  later.<br />
The filamentous structures were about 10 mm long and hanging at the ends were clusters of purplish sporangia with white dusting of lime on the outer surface. the sporangia (spore sacs) would have been about .5 to 1 mm in diameter.<br />
The stiff whitish hairs on the wood are pin mold (fungus) and not related to slime mold.<br />
<br />
Some of the photo is unclear, sorry about that - I had great difficulty getting access to the slime mold and was totally sodden and covered by small leeches by the time I finished photographing them.<br />
This was a wonderful and lucky find for me and I wonder if I&#039;ll ever see this again ! Australia,Badhamia utricularis,Geotagged,Summer Click/tap to enlarge PromotedCountry intro

Myxogastria (Badhamia utricularis)

Looking like a layer of fuzz at first sight, this slime mold was growing on the underside of a very damp eucalyptus log. The individual structures were not discernible so it was a wonderful surprise when I could view them in the photos later.
The filamentous structures were about 10 mm long and hanging at the ends were clusters of purplish sporangia with white dusting of lime on the outer surface. the sporangia (spore sacs) would have been about .5 to 1 mm in diameter.
The stiff whitish hairs on the wood are pin mold (fungus) and not related to slime mold.

Some of the photo is unclear, sorry about that - I had great difficulty getting access to the slime mold and was totally sodden and covered by small leeches by the time I finished photographing them.
This was a wonderful and lucky find for me and I wonder if I'll ever see this again !

    comments (2)

  1. Beautiful and mysterious species, your effort in capturing it was well worth it, Leuba :) Posted 9 years ago
  2. Was definitely worth it Ferdy. This is one of those times when you take a photo of a strange but unusual thing and it turns out to be something amazing. At the time we were in touch with a slime mold expert who helped with the ID. There are some great shots of these on Flickr. Posted 9 years ago

Sign in or Join in order to comment.

Badhamia utricularis is a slime mold from the family Physaridae.

Similar species: Physarales
Species identified by Leuba Ridgway
View Leuba Ridgway's profile

By Leuba Ridgway

All rights reserved
Uploaded Mar 26, 2016. Captured Mar 12, 2012 22:47 in Odonohue Track, Sherbrooke VIC 3789, Australia.
  • EX-Z2000
  • f/3.4
  • 1/60s
  • ISO250
  • 8.46mm