Licea pseudoconica Keller & Brooks (1977: 678)

Bortnikov, Fedor M., Gmoshinskiy, Vladimir I. & Novozhilov, Yuri K., 2022, Species of Licea Schrad. (Myxomycetes) in Kedrovaya Pad State Nature Biosphere Reserve (Far East, Russia), including two new species, Phytotaxa 541 (1), pp. 21-48 : 35

* Licea pseudoconica Keller & Brooks (1977: 678) . Fig. 13 .

Description:—Sporocarps scattered, sessile, hemispherical to globose, but look more or less conical due to the accumulation of light refuse matter, partially crystalline, at the top of sporocarps (occasionally such a cap is missing), brownish-black (65) to black (267), 55–80 µm in total height, 40–60 µm wide. Peridium membranous, translucent, outside covered by refuse matter. Inner peridium surface warted, under SEM covered by large rounded warts, sometimes merging in groups of 2–5. Dehiscence irregular or more or less circumscissile to the sporocarp base. Spores almost black in mass, light olive to moderate olive (106 to 107) by transmitted light, with paler area on one side, (12.2–) 12.6–13.8 (–14.2) µm in diameter, smooth. Plasmodium not observed.

Material examined:— LOC 2 (MYX 11280, MYX 11286, MYX 11288, MYX 11298, MYX 11305, MYX 11310), LOC 11 (MYX 10210) .

Habitat:—bark of living trees ( Chosenia arbutifolia ), pH: 6.40–7.31 (n = 7).

Distribution:— USA and Mexico ( Keller & Brooks 1977), France ( Lado 1994), Belize (Ing & Hynes 1999), Tanzania ( Mitchell & Stampfer 2004), Japan (Yamamoto 2006), Cuba ( Camino et al. 2008), southern Vietnam (Novozhilov, pers. obs.) and eastern Russia.

Notes:—Our specimens have slightly larger spores than indicated in the original description (12.6–13.8 μm vs. 9.5–11 μm), but otherwise they are fully consistent with it ( Keller & Brooks 1977). The most characteristic feature of L. pseudoconica is hemispherical to spherical black sporocarps, which however appear almost conical due to the light-colored cap of refuse matter. For this reason, Keller and Braun (1977) figuratively compared the sporocarps of L. pseudoconica to “miniature snow-capped mountains”.Due to its small size and similarity with ascomycete perithecia, this species can often be overlooked by researchers.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Licea pseudoconica (MYX10210: h, i; MYX11280: a–d, f, g, j–n; MYX11305: e). a–e: Sporocarps. f–i: Sporocarps under SEM. j–k: Disrupted sporocarp by TL (j) and under SEM (k). Arrows indicate the peridium upper part, which is rounded, not conical. l: Inner peridium under SEM. m: Spores by TL. n: Spores under SEM. Scale bars: a–e = 50 µm, f–k, m = 20 µm, l, n = 5 µm.