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Abstract
A new species of Didymium (Myxomycetes), D. infundibuliforme, is described herein, and details are provided on its life cycle as observed in spore to spore culture on agar. The new species was recorded during intensive studies of areas of the Monte Desert in Argentina and the Atacama Desert in Chile. It has been collected directly in the field in both countries on several occasions over 4 y and isolated in moist chamber cultures prepared with material from native plant species. The characters that make this species unique in the genus are its funnel-shape sporocarps with white stalks, the apical circumscissile dehiscence of the sporotheca that causes the base to resemble a calyculus and the ornamentation on the spores. The morphology of specimens of this new myxomycete was examined with scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy, and micrographs of relevant details are included in this paper.
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain (project CGL2005-00320/BOS) and by the National Science Foundation of the United States (“PBI: global biodiversity of Eumycetozoans” DEB-0316284). We are very grateful for the help of Fr. J. Bozonnet, who checked the Latin diagnosis, and of Dr Edward Haskins (Univ. Washington) for his valuable comments on culture techniques.