Dear colleagues;
I am fairly awestruck by one of the samples I've collected from my main study site in Saskatchewan for next field season. Other experts in the field weren't even sure that the specimen was biotic, but I was finally able to borrow a proper compound scope yesterday and demonstrate that it is indeed a fungus - I believe a lichenized ascomycete. It has a clearly defined layer of an algae or cyanobacterium within the fruiting bodies, and I believe I've even been able to see the ascospores, which are simply pill-shaped and 1-septate.
I apologize for the poor quality of the photos, I had to take photos with my cell phone through the eyepiece because apparently the U of Regina doesn't have the ability to take photos, or I haven't found it yet. I'm working on getting local experts interested enough to allow me to use their scopes with cameras - your professional excitement, if any, would help.
This ascomycete makes a brain-like raised pattern upon the surface of a limestone rock face, and has tiny blue fruiting structures near the center of the vegetative tissue. These are very small, only about 1-2mm across. I was finally able to section one of them yesterday and it was immediately clear that they are not a random mineral accretion but the fruiting body, complete with an algal or cyanobacterial photobiont.
I am looking for collaboration with experts in the Ascomycota as I have a sneaking suspicion that this is an unusual member of this diverse and enthralling group. Because of the nature of the vegetative growth form in and over the rock face, and the very conspicuous and three dimensional structure of that vegetative growth, I am keenly interested in identifying this organism.
All input and guidance or direction toward appropriate experts is deeply appreciated.
See the iNaturalist observation here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/36873951
Michael.
I have now added more photos to this comment of the photobiont, ascii, paraphyses, and the ascospores, which are much clearer than I was able to attain before. The ascospores are 1-4 septate, and appear to either come in two types/maturities (one of which seems to have very distinct jigsaw-puzzle shaped septa, as shown in the photos), or the ascocarp I squashed may have had another species present. Average spore sizes of the two types (n=8 each) are 15.7 x 3.8 μm (jigsaw septa) and 17.9 x 4.4 μm (opaque spores) for the two types.
I still don't have access to iodine to stain the ascus tips, but I am working on it!
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