Hi Pavol,

in my opinion this looks like the common P. fainosa - it often grows on Salix but also on many other deciduous hosts.

Regards from Lothar

Vorsicht Lothar, the spores are much too narrow to fit farinosus.

Mellitiosporiella has septate spores and thick-walled asci, i assume your asci are apically thin-walled, and your spores non-septate. What you may take as septa are the oil drops that in your photo are difficult to discern. Did you mount them in Melzer? I recommend to make a water mount and not to apply any contrast techniques. A photo of an ascus would also be welcome.

My guess is that this is Propolis rubella (= P. tumidula), see my key
http://beta.invivoveritas.de/keys/key-to-marthamycetaceae-propoloid-discomycetes/

typically on Salix.

Zotto

Hi Zotto
be better seen septa + a poor picture of asccii :-(
Pavol

yes, you are right, these photos are much better. Do you use phase contrast? This makes photos difficult to interpret.

Now I think this could me Mellitiosporiella pulchella. It is a mediterranean species, from eu- to oromediterranean. Do you live in that region? It has a slate-grey to mostly distinctly blue-grey hymenium, and your pic indeed reminded me of that colour.

You spores are a bit long but this sometimes occurs. 14-18 is also common.

Hallo Zotto,

vielen Dank für den Link - den Schlüssel kannte/hatte ich noch nicht.

Auch hatte ich noch nie etwas von Propolis rubella gehört. Künftig werde ich Salix-Funde daraufhin untersuchen.

Herzliche Grüße von Lothar

P. tumidula ist wohl besser bekannt, aber ich hatte einen Fund aus Lux. lange als unbestimmt rumliegen gehabt bis, ich glaube Bernard oder Eugene Popov mich draufbrachte.

Hi Zotto
This finding is from northern Slovakia , about 700 m to the sea.
Regards from Pavol

Oh, I just see there is a M. angulosa, still in Propolis, which has a temperate distribution, see my key. It has the narrower spores that you give, and the lack of blue pigment!

Hi Zotto
thank you very much for the link
Pavol
p.s. Mellitiosporiella angulosa it is a valid name ?

Hi there,

for me P. angulosa too. I had this species a few weeks ago, also on Salix. I do not know if it now belongs to Mellitiosporiella.
Sp 19-24x3-4µm.

regards,
björn

Wonderful! And I assume you had it also from our temperate region.

Here on Piotr's photos you see the character of Mellitiosporiella: thick-walled ascus apices (in dead state).

Karsten described it from western Finland (Jakobstad, Vaasa), and when I read his desritpion I am pretty sure it is this species.

Presently the species is in Propolis, but the difference to M. pulchella is not very distinct, and due to variation in spore size I guess it will not be easy to show that the two are different. Regrettably, none of them has so far been sequenced, the genus Mellitiosporiella (or Melittosporiella, as it has also been spelled) is unknown in GenBank.

Zotto