Slime mold (Myxomycete)

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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hkv
Posts: 580
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 3:58 pm
Location: Sweden

Slime mold (Myxomycete)

Post by hkv »

I was fascinated by a sample that a photography friend sent me in a match box. Tiny slime molds growing on some leaves and moss. I took a closer look using my light microscope and SEM, especially at the fruiting bodies and spores which have a stunning microarchitecture.

As you can see in the light micrographs (two first images), the spores are clearly blackish. However, the scanning electron microscope produce a mush brighter grey scale of these so the spores are colored in brown rather than in black. Makes pretty images, but not correctly representing the color as perceived when hit by photons. I guess the same problem exist in fluorescence microscopy, so I can live with that.

The IDs of these two slime molds are believed to be Lamproderma violaceum and Lamproderma scintillans (correct me if wrong). The first being more blackish in color with black spores and the second having a more brownish fruiting body with brown spores.

Note the magnification given is in relation to a print in A4 size. Click on the images to get them in higher resolution.

Lamproderma violaceum. Light micrograph, 4X objective:

ImageMyxomycete-1 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

Lamproderma violaceum. Light micrograph, 10X objective:

ImageMyxomycete-2 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

Lamproderma violaceum. SEM. Mag: 38X, Image width: 7.8 mm:

ImageMyxomycete-8 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

Lamproderma violaceum. SEM. Mag: 120X, Image width: 2.48 mm:

ImageMyxomycete-9 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

Lamproderma violaceum. SEM. Mag: 3.25KX, Image width: 91 µm. A ruptured fruiting body revealing the inside spores:

ImageMyxomycete-4 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

Lamproderma violaceum. SEM. Mag: 5.34KX, Image width: 56 µm. Spores on the surface of a fruiting body. Note the bacteria growing on the surface:

ImageMyxomycete-6 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

Lamproderma violaceum. SEM. Mag: 7.87KX, Image width: 38 µm. Spores on the surface of a fruiting body. Note the bacteria growing on the surface:

ImageMyxomycete-7 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

Lamproderma violaceum. SEM. Mag: 18KX, Image width: 16 µm. Small holes (around 500 nm in diameter) evenly distributed along the surface of a fruiting body. Unclear purpose of these. Perhaps to allow air to move in and out to compensate for pressure changes or to let moisture in and out:

ImageMyxomycete-3 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

Lamproderma scintillans. SEM. Mag: 2.3KX, Image width: 131 µm. Showing the inside of a broken fruting body:

ImageMyxomycete-10 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

Lamproderma scintillans. SEM. Mag: 3.25KX, Image width: 91 µm. Showing a piece of the fruting body surface:

ImageMyxomycete-13 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

Lamproderma scintillans. SEM. Mag: 3.12KX, Image width: 95 µm. Showing a piece of the stem:

ImageMyxomycete-5 by Håkan Kvarnström Photography, on Flickr

PeteM
Posts: 214
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2019 12:06 am
Location: West Coast, USA

Re: Slime mold (Myxomycete)

Post by PeteM »

Wow.

Slime mold is amazing to begin with. It's never had a better photographer.

hkv
Posts: 580
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 3:58 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: Slime mold (Myxomycete)

Post by hkv »

PeteM wrote:
Fri Jan 17, 2025 12:18 am
Wow.

Slime mold is amazing to begin with. It's never had a better photographer.
Thanks Pete! Very interesting species that start as an amoeba-like organism and then form these capsules and spores.

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