Anyone have any ideas what kind of critter laid these eggs, on the underside of a toadstool?
salamander? frog? insect?
Thanks -
Sandy
Posted by David Graham on December 2, 2012 at 12:58 PM
Hi, Sandy,
My five-year old grand daughter, Ja'Ayden, was snuggled comfortably in my lap as we watched this picture of yours appear on my iPad's screen. We talked a bit about what those things might be (Are they really eggs? Evidence of a sick fungus? Something else?) ...and then she blew me away with her flash of consummate wisdom. With brow furrowed in focused concentration she asked: "Grandpa, if they ARE eggs, why not just watch and see what hatches?" ... and then, having laid out her experimental plan, moved on ..."what's the next picture?"
Ian - possibly, but they are only on one of the many fungi in this group.
?
Sandy
Posted by Wayne Jones on December 3, 2012 at 3:44 PM
Sandy, good to see that you care about identifying what you are shooting. I wish I could tell you exactly what the little globs are, but since I can't, I'll toss out a couple of alternatives.
1. They don't look like typical eggs to me because they appear to be clear and jelly-like, but don't seem to contain a nucleus or "yolk" that I can see in this photo.
2. Some mushrooms or toadstools exude a thick liquid when the gills are damaged or scratched, but I don't know much about that. As you point out, they appear on only one of the fruiting bodies in the picture, so it's hard to tell if something scratched only one of them.
3. I think the most likely answer is that what we are seeing may be that they are sporangia (spore-producing fruiting bodies) of some kind of slime mold. Many kinds of slime molds commonly live in the same places where you find fungi, and they "crawl" on just about anything, so I would not be surprised to see them on mushrooms or toadstools. Most of us see slime molds a lot, but just call them fungus, slime or even vomit. They are fascinating organisms somewhere between fungi and animals, that live as a moving mass of slime until they produce sporangia to reproduce. The sporangia of different species have many different forms, including some that are smooth and spherical.
I went back to the toadstools this evening to try to get one of the "things" to look at it more closely.
They "things" are all gone. I don't see any newly-hatched little bugs or critters anywhere, so I guess they are not eggs. The "fins" of the one toadstool the "things" we're on are perfect and don't seem damaged in any way. But feeling around where the "things" were covered my fingers with a brown thick-ish liquid.
I will go look again in a couple days.
Sandy
Discussion
6 repliessalamander? frog? insect?
Thanks -
Sandy
My five-year old grand daughter, Ja'Ayden, was snuggled comfortably in my lap as we watched this picture of yours appear on my iPad's screen. We talked a bit about what those things might be (Are they really eggs? Evidence of a sick fungus? Something else?) ...and then she blew me away with her flash of consummate wisdom. With brow furrowed in focused concentration she asked: "Grandpa, if they ARE eggs, why not just watch and see what hatches?" ... and then, having laid out her experimental plan, moved on ..."what's the next picture?"
Dave Graham...a proud grandpa in Estellne, SD
I didn't consider that these might not be eggs...not sure, but I think so.
Maybe they are food stored by the Leprechauns (see my flora post)
Sandy
Ian
?
Sandy
1. They don't look like typical eggs to me because they appear to be clear and jelly-like, but don't seem to contain a nucleus or "yolk" that I can see in this photo.
2. Some mushrooms or toadstools exude a thick liquid when the gills are damaged or scratched, but I don't know much about that. As you point out, they appear on only one of the fruiting bodies in the picture, so it's hard to tell if something scratched only one of them.
3. I think the most likely answer is that what we are seeing may be that they are sporangia (spore-producing fruiting bodies) of some kind of slime mold. Many kinds of slime molds commonly live in the same places where you find fungi, and they "crawl" on just about anything, so I would not be surprised to see them on mushrooms or toadstools. Most of us see slime molds a lot, but just call them fungus, slime or even vomit. They are fascinating organisms somewhere between fungi and animals, that live as a moving mass of slime until they produce sporangia to reproduce. The sporangia of different species have many different forms, including some that are smooth and spherical.
I hope this helps.
They "things" are all gone. I don't see any newly-hatched little bugs or critters anywhere, so I guess they are not eggs. The "fins" of the one toadstool the "things" we're on are perfect and don't seem damaged in any way. But feeling around where the "things" were covered my fingers with a brown thick-ish liquid.
I will go look again in a couple days.
Sandy