Prototrichia metallica is a slime mould species from the order Trichiida and the only species from the genus Prototrichia. It is mainly distributed on mountains.
| Prototrichia metallica | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Subclass: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Genus: | Prototrichia Rostaf. |
| Species: | P. metallica |
| Binomial name | |
| Prototrichia metallica (Berk.) Massee | |
Characteristics
Prototrichia metallica is a very variable species. The plasmodium is white. The fruit bodies are grouped densely.[1] They are orange brown to dull brown, occasionally pink, short stemmed or are lying on a heavily regenerated edge, rarely plasmodiokarp sporokarps with a diameter from 0.5 to 2.2 mm. The membranous peridium is transparently thin and shinily iridescent-coloured. Its surface is composed of a coarse mesh arrangement of wrinkled lines, along which it later divides into pieces.[1][2]
The capillitium is often irregular, usually due to the presence of several yellow-brown, translucent spirally banded strands, which divide towards the outer end. The branches are often intertwined spirals, which sometimes form a network. Many of the outer ends are fused with the upper part of the peridium wall. The spirals are occasionally missing. The thorny spores are pink as mass,[1] orange-brown to brown, individually yellow and have a diameter from 10 to 13, rarely up to 15 μm.[2]
Habitat
Prototrichia metallica has been found in mountainous area of Tasmania, Europe, western North America and South America. It was first found in South America in 1976. It is a "nivicol", meaning that it grows on the snow line at the time of snowmelt.[1][3]
Classification
The species was first described in 1859 as Trichia metallica by Miles Joseph Berkeley and the genus in 1876 by Joszef Tomasz Rostafinski.[2] Prototrichia was for a long time classified in Dianemidae, periodically even as a separate family of Prototrichiaceae. Since the end of the 1960s, it was asserted that this species is part of Trichiidae. Charles Meylan described in 1921 a further species, Prototrichia schroeteri, and the name is usually the synonym. Nowotny, however, believes that it is a separate species.[1][4]
References
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