Holding a small rodent in its talons
Quick manual focus stack of a few images. Seems like it is composed of equilateral triangles, kind of resembling a regular icosahedron.
Putting ID as Chromista for now to include radiolarians, centric diatoms, dinoflagellate cysts, etc.
About 1/2”
Hypophyllous on Magnolia, conidiophores growing from shared stolon-like hyphae. Conidia largely broken off, but seem to grow in chains. Conidia consistently verrucose.
Was on top of a very recently dead cow on the side of the road, then went and bothered some ravens. Enormous bird
Hypophyllous on Celtis laevigata. Similar to Erysiphe macrospora, however the ascospores are around 8-10 μm shorter (about 1/3 shorter). Documentation for E. parvula is lacking, so I assume that the name parvula might refer to the small spores. While I can't find a description of the ascospores, the chasmothecial measurements and ascus count are a good fit, along with the host species.
Measurements
Chasmothecia
90–112 μm (briefly mentioned as 90–100 μm in older literature)
Asci
50–55 × 33–38 μm; ~5–6 per chasmothecium
Ascospores
18–19.5(–21.5) × 10.5–12(–13.3) μm; Q=1.5–1.8; ~6 per ascus
Images
Slides dyed with LPCB, scale bars 10 μm
1,2: Chasmothecia with numerous curled Erysiphe-type appendages
3: Erumpent asci
4,5: Habit
On Quercus virginiana.
Hypophyllous on Modiola caroliniana. Not easily confusable due to the host; microscopy matches literature anyway. Both teliospores and basidiospores highly variable in size and shape.
Measurements
Teliospores
37–80 × 10–21 μm
Teliospores in literature
45–87.5 × 8.0–17.0 µm (Albu et al. 2019)
31–81(–95) × 10.5–20 (–25) µm (Aime & Abbasi 2018)
Basidiospores
9–12.5(–17.8) × 6–9(–10.5) μm
Images
All slides in LPCB, scale bar 100 μm for image 1, 50 μm for image 3, 10 μm otherwise.
1: Cross section of telium, teliospores visible on lower surface
2: Epiphyllous habit
3: Various teliospores
4: Sterigmata, two with attached basidiospores
5: Spent sterigmata
6: Promycelia/metabasidia in various stages of growth from teliospores
7: Basidiospores
8: Notched teliospore apex
9: Hypophyllous spermogonium
10: Early or broken teliospore germ tube
11: Additional habit
Keys out to Rhytidhysteron guaraniticum on two separate keys, can't find much information on the species apart from that however. At the very least exists in Paraguay.
On Citrus bark.
Mature ascocarps often exceed 2 mm in length. Width is variable with opening/closing, but closes to 0.4-1 mm.
Ascospores
23.3–33.5 × (8.4–)10.7–13.8 μm; Q: 1.94–2.92(–3.67)
Mostly 3-septate, often 1-septate, very rarely 2-septate.
Image Notes
All microscopy with 10 μm scale bars, mounted in KOH or LPCB
2: Open ascocarps revealing epithecia after sitting in water droplets for 30 minutes
4: Ascospores
5: Asci with ascospores in cross section
6: Exciple
7: Paraphysis
8: Cross section at low magnification
And fish
Beautiful, dichotomously branched chasmothecial appendages. Took 20+ hours to stitch together the focus stacks manually.
Mycelium and fruiting bodies are strictly hypophyllous on Quercus pagoda leaves, as shown in habitus pictures 5 and 6.
Literature
The most often described Erysiphe sp. from oak leaves is E. alphitoides; however, the chasmothecial appendage lengths range from 0.75 to 2 times the diameter of the chasmothecium. The appendages in this observation consistently only measure 0.5 to 0.75 times the chasmothecial diameter.
E. quercicola is similar to E. alphitoides, but with shorter appendages that match the range of this observation. E. quercicola would be a good candidate apart from the ascospore dimensions, which are smaller than this observation's ascospore dimensions by ~30%. Additionally, both E. alphitoides and quercicola are only dubiously present in North America, and may be limited to Europe and/or South America.
Identification
Erysiphe abbreviata is a North American species that has been collected from Quercus pagoda. It has notably larger ascospores than the other Erysiphe spp. mentioned, and shares the short appendages of E. quercicola; Braun et al. 2007.
Image annotations
1) Chasmothecium with appendages – lactophenol cotton blue (LPCB)
2) Chasmothecial appendage, dichotomously branched ~5x – LPCB
3) Erumpent ascus with ascospores – Melzer's reagent (MLZ)
4) Ascospores – MLZ
5) Habitus with chasmothecia visible on underside of Q. pagoda leaf
6) Close view of habitus
7) Conidium with initial appressorium growth – LPCB
8) Lobed appressorium – LPCB
9) Chasmothecium detail with early, unbranched appendages – LPCB
10) Uncropped view of all appendages – LPCB
11) Chasmothecia among stellate trichomes – MLZ
12) Ruptured chasmothecia detail – Water
All scale bars are 10 μm.
Average measurements vs. literature range
Ascospores:
24.14 × 14.13 μm || 20–32 × 12–21 μm
Asci:
55.62 × 38.29 μm || 50–70 × 35–55 μm
Chasmothecial diameter:
82–124; x̄:108 μm || 70–125(–130) μm
Conidia:
32.21 × 14.41 μm || 25–45 × 10–20 μm
Hyphal width:
4.42 μm || 2–6 μm
Literature measurements from:
Braun, Uwe & Shi, Ainong & Mmbaga, M. & Takamatsu, Susumu & Divarangkoon, Rangsi & Chen, P.. (2007). Erysiphe abbreviata on cherry bark oak - Morphology, phylogeny and taxonomy. Mycologia. 99. 655-63. 10.3852/mycologia.99.5.655.
I've wanted to find this one for a while. I doubt much can be gleaned from my amateur microscopy, but I believe I found a condiophore and some hyphal bodies. The fungus has spread throughout the entire body, even emerging from the face between the antennae. It also seems that the fungus has "sewn" the body to the leaf with strands of hyphae, as shown in picture 9.
Best match for the thoracic striping I believe.
Pretty certain this is Pinophilus latipes, but bafflingly enough, it is missing both of its front two tarsi. The front tarsi are the key trait that give it the name latipes – "wide foot".
Based on incisor shape and molar position.
I believe the topmost leaf may have captured something.
I'm more accustomed to Drosera brevifolia, but they would have more triangular, gradually broadening leaves.
Was stuck among some pine needles. Decided to help.
From Riddle's description:
"On dead leaves of Celtis, Cornus, Ulmus, etc.; 0.7-1.5mm. in
height, stipitate, honey-yellow to russet. Apparently confined to the warmer portion of the United States: specimens examined from New Jersey, North and South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas; and recorded from Alabama."
Characteristics supporting Riddle's variety from this observation:
Notes:
My naturalist partner almost stepped on this friend; we both involuntarily shrieked before realizing it was a banded watersnake doing the "head-flattening" thing to look more like a pit viper.
Spore dimensions are well within range. KOH in last picture.
Unfortunately only had my phone.