PDD 48502

Fruiting body a plasmodiocarp, slender, pulvinate to elongated, flexuous, sometimes reticulate or annular but varying to subglobose and sporangiate on a constricted base, dull grey or dull ochraceous to dull reddish brown or black with age, usually 0.2–0.5 mm across. Hypothallus colourless, scanty to contiguous for an entire fruiting. Peridium thin, consisting of two layers not always distinguishable, the outer granular, the inner membranous, papillate. Capillitium usually abundant, the threads slender, 2–2.5 µm in diameter, irregular, minutely warted or spinulose. Spores ochraceous yellow in mass, pale yellow by transmitted light, minutely roughened, 10–14 µm in diameter. Plasmodium watery white, yellowish, or rose-red.

Cosmopolitan (Martin & Alexopoulos 1969). First reported from New Zealand by Mitchell (1992), based on a specimen collected by S. McBeth in Bay of Plenty. Also known from Auckland.

Dead herbaceous stems and leaves; occasionally occurring on bark

Martin & Alexopoulos (1969), Neubert et al. (1993), Lado & Pando (1997), Ing (1999).

Typical fruitings of P. vermicularis, which consist of long, branched to somewhat anastamosing plasmodiocarps, are distinctive.