Localities of the species:  – Amaurochaete atra ,  – A. tubulina ,  – Brefeldia maxima 

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... Brefeldia idea Rostaf of M. ., Schnittler Vers. Syst. a Mycetozoen: possible scenario 8 (1873). can be reasoned This is about a monotypic the myxomycete genus arriving with to the Australia only species within imported Brefeldia wood maxima as (Fr.) an amoebal Rostaf. The population genus is (microcysts) characterized large enough by aethalioid to form the fructifications, plasmodium and, the largest subsequently, among fruitbodies myxomycetes, under numerous favourable columellae, conditions. capillitium As an alternative of branched a plasmodium threads with in a unique resting septate stage vesicles though ready and an for anthracite-black reconstitution and spore sporulation mass. Brefeldia as soon sporulates as the environmental in spring conditions (April–May) become but more advantageous often in autumn could be (September–November) considered. on stumps and rotten tree So, bases the as comparative well as on litter rarity at the of base both of Amaurochaete stumps ( I ng , species 1999). It may has be been determined recorded by in a number the Americas, of factors, Europe such as and special Asia, but ecological appears requirements, to be uncommon the fragile throughout nature this of the range. fructifications Two records (the of B aethalia . maxima are have rather been evanescent published and from last Lithuania for a few up to weeks now ( M only) azelaitis and the & S short tanevičienė period , when 1995). the Revision substrate of is the suitable herbarium for species material development. of BILAS Collecting resulted in the activity following also data. apparently plays a certain role, Brefeldia as the species maxima has (Fr.) been Rostaf. reported in with Fuckel, rather Jahrb. high frequency Nassauischen from Vereins North Naturk. America 27–28: and Sweden 70 (1873) ( E liasson – Fig. 9. , 1977, Large 2000). pulvinate aethalia up to 12 x 10 cm in size. Hypothallus thick, somewhat spongy, silvery. Cortex fugacious. Columellae pillar-like, mostly irregular. Capillitium a network of dark threads bearing septate membrane vesicles. Spores deep brown in mass, minutely warted with a paler zone, warts sometimes arranged in rows and giving the impression of an irregular net; spores when rounded 10–12 μm diam., when slightly ovoid 10–11 x 11–12 μm diam. Examined specimens : No 15473 [ Brefeldia maxima sub nom. A. fuliginosa ], on Pinus sylvestris stump, Rageliai, Rokiškis distr., August 9, 1984, leg./ det. J. Mazelaitis; No 0296, on Fraxinus excelsior trunk, Lančiūnava forest, Kėdainiai distr., October 1, Brefeldia Rostaf ., Vers. Syst. Mycetozoen: 8 (1873). This is a monotypic genus with the only species Brefeldia maxima (Fr.) Rostaf. The genus is characterized by aethalioid fructifications, the largest among myxomycetes, numerous columellae, capillitium of branched threads with unique septate vesicles and an anthracite-black spore mass. Brefeldia sporulates in spring (April–May) but more often in autumn (September–November) on stumps and rotten tree bases as well as on litter at the base of stumps ( I ng , 1999). It has been recorded in the Americas, Europe and Asia, but appears to be uncommon throughout this range. Two records of B . maxima have been published from Lithuania up to now ( M azelaitis & S tanevičienė , 1995). Revision of the herbarium material of BILAS resulted in the following data. Brefeldia maxima (Fr.) Rostaf. in Fuckel, Jahrb. Nassauischen Vereins Naturk. 27–28: 70 (1873) – Fig. 9. Large pulvinate aethalia up to 12 x 10 cm in size. Hypothallus thick, somewhat spongy, silvery. Cortex fugacious. Columellae pillar-like, mostly irregular. Capillitium a network of dark threads bearing septate membrane vesicles. Spores deep brown in mass, minutely warted with a paler zone, warts sometimes arranged in rows and giving the impression of an irregular net; spores when rounded 10–12 μm diam., when slightly ovoid 10–11 x 11–12 μm diam. Examined specimens : No 15473 [ Brefeldia maxima sub nom. A. fuliginosa ], on Pinus sylvestris stump, Rageliai, Rokiškis distr., August 9, 1984, leg./ det. J. Mazelaitis; No 0296, on Fraxinus excelsior trunk, Lančiūnava forest, Kėdainiai distr., October 1, 1998, leg./det. G. Adamonytė; No 1851, on Betula sp. trunk, Punios šilas, Prienai distr., October 20, 2005, leg. R. Iršėnaitė, det. G. Adamonytė. Taxonomical comments . The above-given description is based on three specimens. A specimen collected by V. Urbonas from a Pinus sylvestris log on September 21, 1986, in Trakai distr., and reported in M azelaitis & S tanevičienė ( 1995) was not found in the herbarium. Available material is typical and closely follows species descriptions, even though the aethalia are not so large as reported by other authors. The species is easy to identify due to the characteristic septate capillitium vesicles. Like many other aethalia- forming myxomycetes, Brefeldia maxima is often infested by various arthropods ( K ylin , 2001), and I have never observed aethalia with an intact cortex. Ecological comments . The species records are available from the following neighbouring countries: Belarus ( M oroz & N ovozhilov , 1988), Poland ( D rozdowicz et al., 2003), Russia ( N ovozhilov , 1993). So far, B. maxima is considered to be rare in Lithuania being registered in three localities (Fig. 4). The short life span of the tender fructifications, being highly attractive for forest invertebrates, which certainly play a role in dispersing spores, along with limited collecting activity may at least in part explain the rarity of this species in the ...

Context 2

... The genus includes four species, sporulating primarily on dead conifer wood, forming large aethalioid or pseudoaethalioid fructifications with evanescent peridium, a capillitium or pseudocapillitium and/or columella, dark brown or black spore mass, and spores larger than 12 μm: A. atra (Alb. et Schwein.) Rostaf., A. comata G. Lister et Brândză, A. trechispora T. Macbr. et G. W. Martin, and A. tubulina (Alb. et Schwein.) T. Macbr. Amaurochaete species are widely scattered throughout the northern hemisphere, but nowhere are abundant and seem to be absent from the tropics ( M artin & A lexopoulos , 1969; E liasson , 2000; I nteractive ..., 2009). Two species, A. atra and A. tubulina , have previously been reported from Lithuania ( M azelaitis & S tanevičienė , 1995). The material of this genus deposited in BILAS was revised, and the following results were obtained. Amaurochaete atra (Alb. et Schwein.) Rostaf., Sluzowce Monogr.: 211 (1874) – Fig. 1–3. Syn. Amaurochaete fuliginosa (Sowerby) T. Macbr. Intact aethalia 2–5 cm diam., slightly irregular, pale rosy when fresh, jet black when mature. Cortex thin, black, with a pattern of polygons corresponding to caps of single sporocarps forming the aethalium. Pseudocapillitium represented by branching fan-like plates which divide into fine threads near the periphery. Spores dark brown in mass, red-brown in TL, warted with larger warts on one side and with a paler germination zone, rounded or slightly ovoid, 12–17 μm diam. Examined specimens : No 15473 [ Brefeldia maxima sub nom. A. fuliginosa ], on Pinus sylvestris stump, Rageliai, Rokiškis distr., August 9, 1984, leg./ det. J. Mazelaitis; No 15791, on Pinus sylvestris trunk, Valakampiai, Vilnius environs, July 8, 1984, leg./det. J. Mazelaitis; No 15974 [ Symphytocarpus flaccidus sub nom. A. fuliginosa ], on Pinus sylvestris stump, Valakampiai, Vilnius environs, July 15, 1984, leg./ det. J. Mazelaitis; No 16068 [sub nom. A. fuliginosa ], October 10, 1985, on Pinus sylvestris stump, Rūdiškės, Trakai distr., leg./det. J. Mazelaitis; No 0478M, August 24, 1999, on log (?), Kazitiškis Nature Reserve, Ignalina distr., leg. M. Černogajeva, det. G. Adamonytė; No 2860M, 2862M – both May 9, 2007, on Pinus mugo stump, Smiltynė forestry, 20(17) block, the Curonian Spit, leg./det. G. Adamonytė; No 2958M, September 5, 2007, on charred trunk of living Pinus sylvestris , Smiltynė forestry, 22(30) block, the Curonian Spit, leg./ det idem; No 3098M, May 8, 2008, on charred trunk of living Pinus sylvestris , Smiltynė forestry, 22(30) block, the Curonian Spit, leg./det idem. Taxonomical comments . As a result of the revision, seven specimens of Amaurochaete atra were confirmed. Two specimens reported earlier as belonging to A. atra ( M azelaitis & S tanevičienė , 1995) were found to represent other species. No 15974 identified as A. fuliginosa proved to be Symphytocarpus flaccidus (Lister) Ing et Nann.-Bremek. (described in detail as No 15977 in A damonytė , 2003). A specimen No 15473 published in the same edition of “Mycota Lithuaniae. Myxomycota, Peronosporales” as Amaurochaete fuliginosa has numerous columnar hollow collumelae, capillitium junctions with septate vesicles and spores measuring 10.5–11 μm – all the characters referring to Brefeldia maxima (Fr.) Rostaf. The rest of the herbarium material of Amaurochaete atra is not abundant and rather morphologically homogeneous. In general, it well follows the species concept although the size of the aethalia is at the smaller end of the scale and spores are somewhat larger than given in most handbooks (11–15 μm diam.). Ecological comments . All material of A. atra was collected from Pinus sp. – the most typical substratum of the species ( E liasson , 2000). During investigations of myxomycetes in burned Pinus mugo and P. sylvestris forests one year after a wildfire in May of 2007, I found Amaurochaete atra sporulating twice on freshly cut stumps of burned Pinus mugo trees. Later on, aethalia were twice found on charred trunks of dying-off P. sylvestris trees. So, the species obviously prefers undecayed wood as noted by E liasson (2000), N eubert et al. (2000); D rozdowicz et al. (2003) inter alia cite “almost fresh wood” of conifers as the substrate. According to L. Krieglsteiner (l.c. N eubert et al., 2000), Amaurochaete atra is rather rare in semi- natural habitats and frequent in stacks of fresh-cut logs where the wood lignification process has been stopped abruptly. In one of the cases, I found several aethalia of Amaurochaete atra of different maturity stages in close proximity of each other on a charred trunk of Pinus sylvestris (Fig. 3). The same phenomenon was earlier noted by E liasson (1977) and, apparently, this is rather characteristic of the species. The phenomenon when at least some Stemonitales (the genera Stemonitis , Symphytocarpus ) may undergo plasmodium fragmen- tation while producing fruitbodies, i. e. more than one cluster of sporangia is found in the same small area of substratum, can be frequently observed in the field. These clusters are located close to each other and apparently developed from the same plasmodium, though may differ in the maturity level. Even if karyokinesis in the entire plasmodium body of myxomycetes is synchronous, differences in maturing of various parts of a large plasmodium appear to be possible. This can be observed particularly in moist chamber cultures. Amaurochaete atra is known from all countries neighbouring to Lithuania: Belarus ( M oroz & N ovozhilov , 1988), Latvia ( A damonyte & V imba , 2003), Poland ( D rozdowicz et al., 2003), Russia ( N ovozhilov , 1993). The species is rare in Lithuania: so far we know only four localities in the Ignalina and Trakai districts, Vilnius environs and the Curonian Spit (Fig. 4). Amaurochaete tubulina (Alb. et Schwein.) T. Macbr., N. Amer. Slime-Moulds, ed. 2: 150 (1922) – Figs. 5–7. Syn. A. cribrosa (Fr.) Sturgis, Stemonitis tubulina Alb. et Schwein. Aethalia 0.5–1.5 cm diam., pale rosy when fresh, black when mature. Hypothallus gray, membranous. Cortex black, fragile, after crumbling away leaving a mat of numerous irregular columellae with attached woolly capillitium. Capillitium branching, small- meshed, with expansions at angles. Spores yellowish brown in TL, delicately warted with a paler zone, rounded, 12–14.5 μm diam. Examined specimens : No 15961 [ Stemonitis cf. flavogenita sub nom. Stemonitis tubulina ], on litter, Vanagupė, Palanga environs, July 4, 1985, leg./det. J. Mazelaitis; No 2969M, 2970M, 2971M, 2972M, 2973M, 2974M – all on dead burned trunks of Pinus mugo in spaces between bark and wood, October 16, 2007, Smiltynė forestry, 18(2) block, Neringa, the Curonian Spit, leg./det. G. Adamonytė. Taxonomical comments . The specimen No 15961 published as “ Stemonitis tubulina ” ( M azelaitis & S tanevičienė , 1995) has been misidentified and seems to represent Stemonitis flavogenita E. Jahn. Another specimen, published in the same edition as “ Amaurochaete cribrosa ”, collected by J. Mazelaitis from a Pinus log in Rageliai environs, Rokiškis distr. on July 12, 1978, and supposed to be deposited in BILAS, was not found. Thus, all the Lithuanian material of Amaurochaete tubulina comes from one site (see the distribution map), the Curonian Spit, and is quite uniform as it can be expected. Most authors give the size of aethalia of A. tubulina up to 10 cm across, but aethalia of the specimens in BILAS are much smaller, and the size of their spores is also at the lesser end of the scale for this species. It is possible that a small size of aethalia and spores in this case is due to rather limited food resources provided by slim (7–10 cm diam.) and comparatively low (up to 3 m high) trunks of 50–70 years-old Pinus mugo trees. Amaurochaete tubulina can be distinguished from A. atra by differences in capillitium and spores. A summary of distinguishing features of both species is given below (Table 1). Ecological comments . As mentioned above, Amaurochaete tubulina is known from a sole locality in Lithuania, the Curonian Spit (Fig. 4). Here it sporulated in October of 2007 in two remote sectors of a Pinus mugo plantation, both suffered from the same wildfire. Numerous small aethalia were found on dead burned trunks of pine trees between bark and wood when the charred bark was removed. Often aethalia were protruding from under the bark and developing on its surface (Fig. 7). I also found tracks of plasmodia on wood when the bark was removed. Amaurochaete tubulina records are available ...

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... The genus includes four species, sporulating primarily on dead conifer wood, forming large aethalioid or pseudoaethalioid fructifications with evanescent peridium, a capillitium or pseudocapillitium and/or columella, dark brown or black spore mass, and spores larger than 12 μm: A. atra (Alb. et Schwein.) Rostaf., A. comata G. Lister et Brândză, A. trechispora T. Macbr. et G. W. Martin, and A. tubulina (Alb. et Schwein.) T. Macbr. Amaurochaete species are widely scattered throughout the northern hemisphere, but nowhere are abundant and seem to be absent from the tropics ( M artin & A lexopoulos , 1969; E liasson , 2000; I nteractive ..., 2009). Two species, A. atra and A. tubulina , have previously been reported from Lithuania ( M azelaitis & S tanevičienė , 1995). The material of this genus deposited in BILAS was revised, and the following results were obtained. Amaurochaete atra (Alb. et Schwein.) Rostaf., Sluzowce Monogr.: 211 (1874) – Fig. 1–3. Syn. Amaurochaete fuliginosa (Sowerby) T. Macbr. Intact aethalia 2–5 cm diam., slightly irregular, pale rosy when fresh, jet black when mature. Cortex thin, black, with a pattern of polygons corresponding to caps of single sporocarps forming the aethalium. Pseudocapillitium represented by branching fan-like plates which divide into fine threads near the periphery. Spores dark brown in mass, red-brown in TL, warted with larger warts on one side and with a paler germination zone, rounded or slightly ovoid, 12–17 μm diam. Examined specimens : No 15473 [ Brefeldia maxima sub nom. A. fuliginosa ], on Pinus sylvestris stump, Rageliai, Rokiškis distr., August 9, 1984, leg./ det. J. Mazelaitis; No 15791, on Pinus sylvestris trunk, Valakampiai, Vilnius environs, July 8, 1984, leg./det. J. Mazelaitis; No 15974 [ Symphytocarpus flaccidus sub nom. A. fuliginosa ], on Pinus sylvestris stump, Valakampiai, Vilnius environs, July 15, 1984, leg./ det. J. Mazelaitis; No 16068 [sub nom. A. fuliginosa ], October 10, 1985, on Pinus sylvestris stump, Rūdiškės, Trakai distr., leg./det. J. Mazelaitis; No 0478M, August 24, 1999, on log (?), Kazitiškis Nature Reserve, Ignalina distr., leg. M. Černogajeva, det. G. Adamonytė; No 2860M, 2862M – both May 9, 2007, on Pinus mugo stump, Smiltynė forestry, 20(17) block, the Curonian Spit, leg./det. G. Adamonytė; No 2958M, September 5, 2007, on charred trunk of living Pinus sylvestris , Smiltynė forestry, 22(30) block, the Curonian Spit, leg./ det idem; No 3098M, May 8, 2008, on charred trunk of living Pinus sylvestris , Smiltynė forestry, 22(30) block, the Curonian Spit, leg./det idem. Taxonomical comments . As a result of the revision, seven specimens of Amaurochaete atra were confirmed. Two specimens reported earlier as belonging to A. atra ( M azelaitis & S tanevičienė , 1995) were found to represent other species. No 15974 identified as A. fuliginosa proved to be Symphytocarpus flaccidus (Lister) Ing et Nann.-Bremek. (described in detail as No 15977 in A damonytė , 2003). A specimen No 15473 published in the same edition of “Mycota Lithuaniae. Myxomycota, Peronosporales” as Amaurochaete fuliginosa has numerous columnar hollow collumelae, capillitium junctions with septate vesicles and spores measuring 10.5–11 μm – all the characters referring to Brefeldia maxima (Fr.) Rostaf. The rest of the herbarium material of Amaurochaete atra is not abundant and rather morphologically homogeneous. In general, it well follows the species concept although the size of the aethalia is at the smaller end of the scale and spores are somewhat larger than given in most handbooks (11–15 μm diam.). Ecological comments . All material of A. atra was collected from Pinus sp. – the most typical substratum of the species ( E liasson , 2000). During investigations of myxomycetes in burned Pinus mugo and P. sylvestris forests one year after a wildfire in May of 2007, I found Amaurochaete atra sporulating twice on freshly cut stumps of burned Pinus mugo trees. Later on, aethalia were twice found on charred trunks of dying-off P. sylvestris trees. So, the species obviously prefers undecayed wood as noted by E liasson (2000), N eubert et al. (2000); D rozdowicz et al. (2003) inter alia cite “almost fresh wood” of conifers as the substrate. According to L. Krieglsteiner (l.c. N eubert et al., 2000), Amaurochaete atra is rather rare in semi- natural habitats and frequent in stacks of fresh-cut logs where the wood lignification process has been stopped abruptly. In one of the cases, I found several aethalia of Amaurochaete atra of different maturity stages in close proximity of each other on a charred trunk of Pinus sylvestris (Fig. 3). The same phenomenon was earlier noted by E liasson (1977) and, apparently, this is rather characteristic of the species. The phenomenon when at least some Stemonitales (the genera Stemonitis , Symphytocarpus ) may undergo plasmodium fragmen- tation while producing fruitbodies, i. e. more than one cluster of sporangia is found in the same small area of substratum, can be frequently observed in the field. These clusters are located close to each other and apparently developed from the same plasmodium, though may differ in the maturity level. Even if karyokinesis in the entire plasmodium body of myxomycetes is synchronous, differences in maturing of various parts of a large plasmodium appear to be possible. This can be observed particularly in moist chamber cultures. Amaurochaete atra is known from all countries neighbouring to Lithuania: Belarus ( M oroz & N ovozhilov , 1988), Latvia ( A damonyte & V imba , 2003), Poland ( D rozdowicz et al., 2003), Russia ( N ovozhilov , 1993). The species is rare in Lithuania: so far we know only four localities in the Ignalina and Trakai districts, Vilnius environs and the Curonian Spit (Fig. 4). Amaurochaete tubulina (Alb. et Schwein.) T. Macbr., N. Amer. Slime-Moulds, ed. 2: 150 (1922) – Figs. 5–7. Syn. A. cribrosa (Fr.) Sturgis, Stemonitis tubulina Alb. et Schwein. Aethalia 0.5–1.5 cm diam., pale rosy when fresh, black when mature. Hypothallus gray, membranous. Cortex black, fragile, after crumbling away leaving a mat of numerous irregular columellae with attached woolly capillitium. Capillitium branching, small- meshed, with expansions at angles. Spores yellowish brown in TL, delicately warted with a paler zone, rounded, 12–14.5 μm diam. Examined specimens : No 15961 [ Stemonitis cf. flavogenita sub nom. Stemonitis tubulina ], on litter, Vanagupė, Palanga environs, July 4, 1985, leg./det. J. Mazelaitis; No 2969M, 2970M, 2971M, 2972M, 2973M, 2974M – all on dead burned trunks of Pinus mugo in spaces between bark and wood, October 16, 2007, Smiltynė forestry, 18(2) block, Neringa, the Curonian Spit, leg./det. G. Adamonytė. Taxonomical comments . The specimen No 15961 published as “ Stemonitis tubulina ” ( M azelaitis & S tanevičienė , 1995) has been misidentified and seems to represent Stemonitis flavogenita E. Jahn. Another specimen, published in the same edition as “ Amaurochaete cribrosa ”, collected by J. Mazelaitis from a Pinus log in Rageliai environs, Rokiškis distr. on July 12, 1978, and supposed to be deposited in BILAS, was not found. Thus, all the Lithuanian material of Amaurochaete tubulina comes from one site (see the distribution map), the Curonian Spit, and is quite uniform as it can be expected. Most authors give the size of aethalia of A. tubulina up to 10 cm across, but aethalia of the specimens in BILAS are much smaller, and the size of their spores is also at the lesser end of the scale for this species. It is possible that a small size of aethalia and spores in this case is due to rather limited food resources provided by slim (7–10 cm diam.) and comparatively low (up to 3 m high) trunks of 50–70 years-old Pinus mugo trees. Amaurochaete tubulina can be distinguished from A. atra by differences in capillitium and spores. A summary of distinguishing features of both species is given below (Table 1). Ecological comments . As mentioned above, Amaurochaete tubulina is known from a sole locality in Lithuania, the Curonian Spit (Fig. 4). Here it sporulated in October of 2007 in two remote sectors of a Pinus mugo plantation, both suffered from the same wildfire. Numerous small aethalia were found on dead burned trunks of pine trees between bark and wood when the charred bark was removed. Often aethalia were protruding from under the bark and developing on its surface (Fig. 7). I also found tracks of plasmodia on wood when the bark was removed. Amaurochaete tubulina records are available ...