Photo 41135203, (c) sypster, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by sypster

Attribution © sypster
some rights reserved
Uploaded by sypster sypster
Source iNaturalist
Associated observations

Photos / Sounds

Observer

sypster

Date

June 21, 2017 02:02 PM AEST

Description

My torch found these tiny yellow protrusions on a well decayed palm frond. From a metre away I though I had a yellow Arcyria... Same size (2-3mm tall) and shape. But photographed these are quite different. I have a positive ID now... Endocalyx melanoxanthus var. melanoxanthus . These are Ascomycetes... The last image here is one of several microscope images of spores taken from the specimens. I attribute the ID and this image to Heino Lepp at the Herbarium in Canberra. He has remarkably found an obscure reference from a paper written in 1908. There have been a number of sightings around the world. Here in Australia, there is a reference to a Japanese team who collected samples from the Daintree for the Herbarium in Hong Kong. It is also possible that it may exist in one of our Herbariums but this has not been explored. Nonetheless it is a rare find at this time in Australia!! After having sent images to notable authorities in England, Thailand and USA I am just delighted that Heino was able to shed light on this funny little Asco...

Sizes