Lamproderma sauteri Rostaf., Sluzowce Monogr.

Moreno, Gabriel, Villalba, Angela López, Castillo, Aurelio & Stephenson, Steven L., 2018, Some nivicolous species of Lamproderma and Meriderma from the Himalayan Mountains of northwestern India, Phytotaxa 373 (3), pp. 221-230 : 224

Lamproderma sauteri Rostaf., Sluzowce Monogr. : 205 (1874) Fig. 3

Sporocarps stalked, typically clustered and forming dense colonies, 1–1.5 mm total height. Sporotheca globose to subglobose, 0.5–1 mm in diam. Stalk dark, up to one third or one half of the height of the sporocarp. Peridium membranous, iridescent and without macules, hyaline to slightly light brown, with acicular crystals and brown in transmitted light. Columella blackish, reaching half the height of the sporotheca. Capillitium branching radially in the upper portion of the columella and with reddish brown membranous expansions, formed by light brown filaments, very narrow (1–2 μm in diam), anastomosed, with paler pointed free ends. Hypothallus dark brown at the centre, becoming paler at the margins. Spores 11.5–12.5 × (11)11.2–12.4(12.5) μm in diam, av. 12.1 × 11.8 μm, Q av = 1–1.02–1.07 (1.08), (n = 25), globose to subglobose, blackish in mass, dark brown-violet in transmitted light, spiny. Under SEM the spore ornamentation is formed by high baculae with irregular apices.

Habitat: —Nivicolous, on decaying herbaceous plants near the edge of melting snowbanks.

Specimens examined: — INDIA, Himachal Pradesh Province: north of the city of Manali, 32°20’23.9 N, 77°13’08.2 E, 3240 m, May 2005, leg. L. Singh, Stephenson 21859 in AH 46518.

Notes: —This species is characterized by its stalked sporocarps, globose sporothecae with radial, light brown capillitium and spiny spores. We have not observed acicular crystals on the peridium in specimens of Lamproderma sauteri collected in Europe,but we have not observed other morphological differences to separate it from morphologically similar species.

Lamproderma zonatum Mar. Mey. & Poulain and L. ovoideoechinulatum Mar. Mey. & Poulain have similar spores, but the former has sessile sporocarps and the capillitum is not radial and the latter is characterized by ovoid to ellipsoidal sporothecae, larger spores (13.5–15 μm in diam) and a capilllitium which arises along the lenght of the columella.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Lamproderma sauteri Rostaf., (AH 46518). a. Sporocarps, b. Sporocarp by LM, c. Details of the columella and capillitium, d–e. Spores, f. Detail of spore ornamentation. Bars: a = 1 mm, b = 200 μm, c = 100 μm, d–e = 2 μm, f = 1 μm.