Licea pusilla Schrader (1797: 19)

Bortnikov, Fedor M., Gmoshinskiy, Vladimir I. & Novozhilov, Yuri K., 2022, Species of Licea Schrad. (Myxomycetes) in Kedrovaya Pad State Nature Biosphere Reserve (Far East, Russia), including two new species, Phytotaxa 541 (1), pp. 21-48 : 35-38

Licea pusilla Schrader (1797: 19) Fig. 14 .

Description:—Sporocarps gregarious, small, 130–210 µm in diameter, black (267). Peridium concolorous, usually consists of 4–6 plates, yellowish-brown (77) to olivaceous green (125) by transmitted light. Dehiscence lines smoother and brighter than the rest of peridium. Inner peridium covered with tiniest warts, that are visible only under SEM at high magnification, peridial margins with large outgrowths and warts, that visible both by transmitted light and SEM. Spores dark olive (108) to black (267) in mass, wall with pale area, olive brown (95) by transmitted light, (12.8–) 13.9–17.2 (–19.4) µm, warted.

Material examined:— LOC 5 (MYX 8232, MYX 8233, MYX 8270, MYX 8271, MYX 8273), LOC 14 (MYX 11320), LOC 24 (MYX 11014, MYX 11324), LOC 26 (MYX 11094) .

Habitat:—bark of living trees ( Abies holophylla , Betula cf. lanata , and Pinus koraiensis ) and rotten deciduous wood, pH: 5.18–5.54 (n = 9).

Notes:—The peridial plates margins are covered in most cases with a number of rather large warts. Under SEM, the inner peridium surface is generally decorated with extremely small simple warts, approximately 0.1 μm in diameter (MYX 8271, MYX 8233). The specimen MYX 11014 has larger warts (on average 0.2 μm) with a complex structure resembling the ones on the inner peridium of L. pygmaea or L. operculata ( Fig. 15 H, I , Fig. 9 G–J ), although the size of the spores is the same as of L. pusilla .

Figures

FIGURE 9. Licea operculata (MYX10489: d; MYX11053: b, f, j, k; MYX11074: g, h, m; MYX11078: a; MYX11161: c, e, i, l). a: Sporocarp. b–c: Sporocarps under SEM. d: Spores by TL. e–f: Upper part of sporotheca with operculum under SEM. g–j: Inner peridium under SEM. k–m: Spores under SEM. Scale bars: a–c = 100 µm, d–f = 20 µm, g–m = 2 µm.

FIGURE 14. Licea pusilla (MYX8233: a, b, e, g, j; MYX8271: c, d, h, i; MYX11014: f, k). a–c: Sporocarps. d–e: Peridium and spores by TL. f–h: Inner peridium under SEM. i: Inner ornamentation of the peridial plate margin. j–k: Spores under SEM. Scale bars: a–c = 100 µm, d = 20 µm, e = 10 µm, i–k = 5 µm, f–h = 1 µm.

FIGURE 15. Licea pygmaea (MYX8201: f; MYX8272: d; MYX10237: a, c, h, k; MYX10249: e; MYX10289: g; MYX10297: b, i, j). a–c: Sporocarps. d–g: Spores and peridium by TL. h–j: Inner peridium under SEM. k: Spores under SEM. Scale bars: a–c = 100 µm, d–g, j = 20 µm, k = 5 µm, h, i = 1 µm.