Enteridium lycoperdon

{{Speciesbox

| image = Reticularia_lycoperdon.jpg

| image_alt = A fairly round, whitish structure growing on woody debris

| image_caption = Reticularia lycoperdon growing on cypress duff

| genus = Enteridium

| species = lycoperdon

| authority = (Bull.) M.L. Farr, 1976

| synonyms = Fuligo lycoperdon (Bull.) Schumach

Lycogala punctata Pers.

Lycogala turbinata Pers.

Mucor lycogalus Bolton

Reticularia lycoperdon Bull.

Reticularia umbrina Fr.

Strongylium fuliginoides (Pers.) Ditmar

}}

Enteridium lycoperdon, the false puffball, is one of the more obvious species of slime mould or Myxogastria, typically seen in its reproductive phase as a white 'swelling' on standing dead trees in the spring, or on large pieces of fallen wood. Alder (Alnus glutinosa) is a common host.{{cite web |url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/914784 |title=A slime mould - Enteridium lycoperdon |publisher=Geograph Britain and Ireland |author=Lairich Rig |accessdate=2010-05-09 }}

Taxonomy

It was first described in 1791 by Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard as Reticularia lycoperdon,{{Cite web|title=Index Fungorum - Names Record: Enteridium lycoperdon|url=http://www.indexfungorum.org/names/NamesRecord.asp?RecordID=313627|access-date=2022-01-17|website=www.indexfungorum.org}}Bulliard, J.B.F. (1790), Herbier de la France 10: pl. 446, f. 4 but was assigned to the genus, Enteridium, by Marie L. Farr in 1976.{{cite Q|Q28954358}} The name Reticularia lycoperdon is accepted by the taxonomic databases: Ausfungi{{Cite web|title=Fungi: Reticularia lycoperdon|url=https://fungi.biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services|access-date=2022-01-17|website=fungi.biodiversity.org.au}} Index Fungorum,{{Cite web|title=Species Fungorum - Species synonymy: Reticularia lycoperdon|url=http://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/SynSpecies.asp?RecordID=189393|access-date=2022-01-17|website=www.speciesfungorum.org}} and IRMNG.{{Cite web|title=IRMNG - Reticularia lycoperdon Bull., 1790|url=https://www.irmng.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=10646806|access-date=2022-01-17|website=www.irmng.org}}

Habitats and distribution

E. lycoperdon grows typically on dead alder branches, logs, and stumps in wet places beside rivers, streams and wetlands; it is also found growing on dead elm, beech, poplar, hawthorn, elder, hornbeam, damson,{{cite web |url=http://www.hainaultforest.co.uk/7Slime%20moulds.htm |publisher=Hainault Forest website |title=Slime moulds – Myxomycetes |accessdate=2010-05-09 }} hazel,{{cite web |url=http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/dundreggan/biodiversity/slime_molds.html |title=Trees for Life - Slime Molds occurring on Dundreggan |publisher=Trees for Life – Restoring the Caledonian Forest |accessdate=2010-05-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100430053210/http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/dundreggan/biodiversity/slime_molds.html |archivedate=2010-04-30 }} and pine trees{{cite web |url=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/whixallweb/species.htm |title=Lists of Different Species Recorded on Fenn's Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve |publisher=myweb.tiscali.co.uk |accessdate=2010-05-09 }} often after late frosts in spring and in the autumn.{{cite web |url=http://pagesperso-orange.fr/champyves/champignons/fichier_htm/autres/Enteridium_lycoperdon.html |title=The Site of a thousand mushrooms | language=French |accessdate=2010-05-09 }}

It is recorded throughout Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland,{{cite web|url=https://data.nbn.org.uk/imt/?mode=SPECIES&species=NBNSYS0000155683|title=National Biodiversity Network Database|publisher=NBN|accessdate=2010-05-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104002638/https://data.nbn.org.uk/imt/?mode=SPECIES&species=NBNSYS0000155683|archive-date=2016-11-04|url-status=dead}} Europe, and in Mexico.{{cite web |url=http://www.escepticospr.com/Archivos/uforings.htm |title=About the So-Called 'UFO Rings' and Fungi |author=Ángel M. Nieves-Rivera |publisher=Sociedad de Escépticos de P.R. |accessdate=2010-05-09 |archive-date=2016-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401041014/http://www.escepticospr.com/Archivos/uforings.htm |url-status=dead }}

Feeding

The plasmodial phase feeds by phagocytosis upon bacteria, fungi, moulds, yeasts, inorganic particles and spores. If conditions become too dry, the plasmodium changes into a sclerotium, a dry and dormant state, awaiting the return of wet conditions.

Structure and appearance

= Life cycle =

File:Enteridium lycoperdon, showing 'slime'.JPG

The slime mould has two phases to its life cycle: an actively feeding plasmodial stage and a reproductive sporangial stage.

The plasmodial phase is mobile and is multi-nucleate, formed by the fusion of single cells and typically amoeboid in its movements, through cytoplasmic streaming.

The sporangial or aethalial phase of this slime mould is spherical, elongate or globular, 50 to 80 mm, and is at first highly glutinous in appearance, resembling small slug eggs. Later a smooth white and silvery surface develops, which eventually splits to expose a brown spore mass beneath. An aethalium is a term relating to slime moulds, referring to the relatively big, plump, pillow-shaped fruiting body, formed by the aggregation of plasmodia into a single functional body. The term comes from the Greek for thick smoke or soot; so named from the smokelike spores.{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aethalium|title=Aethalium definition|publisher=Dictionary.com |author=|accessdate=2010-05-10 }}

=Spores=

The spores are brown, subglobose or ovoid, punctate (spotted), 5–7 μm in size and dispersed by wind and rain until only a few delicate threads of the sporangium remain, resembling soft foam padding.

==Insect associates==

A slime mould fly, Epicypta testata, is known to lay its eggs within the spore mass and puparia can be seen with their tips protruding. The adult fly lays its eggs within the plasmodial phase, feeding upon it. The larval phase then hatches as worm-like larvae that pupate and then hatch, carrying and dispersing some of the spores which have stuck to them.Stephenson, Page 65

Edibility

Though not generally considered edible, E. lycoperdon is not toxic. In Veracruz, Mexico, the very young aethalia are collected, fried, and eaten.Stephenson, Page 68