Re: Specimen ID

On 4 May 2005 00:07:10 -0700, "justbeats" <steve_beats@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>> Do you mean the click beetle (Alnus oculatus)?
>
>No - I was thinking fungus too.
>
>My (very limited) understanding is that elaters are what spores grow on
>before they are released. The only one's I've personally seen are
>ribbon-like or rope-like, and had only one spore at the end. I was just
>speculating that if the "round things" are spores (very small ones),
>then maybe the "folded things" could be the elaters they were attached
>to (very weird looking ones)...
>
>Conidia? (...pause to Google for this unfamiliar term). Hmm, didn't
>help much, but looks like I'm on the wrong track anyway. Sorry.
>
>I forgot to ask last time - the "folded things" look like they're
>resting in a shallow liquid, or embedded in a surface. Is this an
>artifact of the imaging technique or is the specimen really like that?
>
> Cheers
> Beats


Ah...for liverworts and hornworts, they use elaters as sterile cells
for spore dispersal. Good call. The trick now is to figure out what
species this stuff is. From what I have found so far, the spores have
the protrusions. If these folded things are elaters, then the spores
are spheres.

Looks like the references are mostly botany-related.


Gary Gaugler, Ph.D.
Microtechnics, Inc.
Granite Bay, CA 95746
916.791.8191
gary@microtechnics dot com
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Specimen ID
    ... No - I was thinking fungus too. ... My understanding is that elaters are what spores grow on ...
    (sci.techniques.microscopy)
  • Re: Specimen ID
    ... I am completely guessing here, but are they elaters? ... Then the round ... things could be the spores after all. ...
    (sci.techniques.microscopy)
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