Life Among the Slime Molds

Post your images made through a compound microscope or made with a stereo/dissecting microscope in this gallery. Images may be of any subject natural or unnatural, living or non-living.

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Ken Ramos
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Life Among the Slime Molds

Post by Ken Ramos »

Image
Stemonitis axifera
EOS 20D
1/250 sec. @ f/2.8 ISO 100
430EX Canon Speedlite w/diffuser
EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Canon Macro USM

Stemonites axifera is a slime mold. This particular specimen was found growning on the decaying limb of a tree lying on the forest floor at Curtis Creek Old Fort, North Carolina. In the following microphotographs, taken using the Meiji EMZ 13TR stereomicroscope equipped with a Sony DSC W5 digital camera, one can see that the slime molds are not alone in their existance and like any other form of life they too are subject to predators/scavengers. :)

Image
Sony DSC W5
1/6 sec. @ f/2.8 ISO 100 EV +0.3
Meiji EMZ 13TR Stereomicroscope
Dual Pipe Fiber Optic Halogen illumination

I have not researched these tiny macroinvertebrates to find out exactly what they are. There are such things as slime mold beetles which feed upon the fungi. These invertebrates what ever they are, seem to be feeding upon the spores having been dispersed by the sporangia. As one can see, they are covered with spores and each of the millions of spores have the capablility to produce a myxoamoeba or an amoebo-flagellate, also known as a swarm cell. :)

Image
Sony DSC W5
1/4 sec. @ f/2.8 ISO 100 EV +0.3
Meiji EMZ 13TR Stereomicroscope
Dual Pipe Fiber Optic Halogen illumination
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Kenneth Ramos
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Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Ken, these are very interesting pictures. Those critters do remind me of some beetle larvae. Carpet beetle larvae come to mind, but these have not nearly so much hair!

--Rik
Reworks and reposts of my images in this forum are always welcome, as are constructive critiques.

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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

I thought that they might be slime mold beetle larvae but they don't seem to be. I Googled the beetle but it made no reference. They sure laid waste to the sporangia though. Thanks Rik. :D
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Kenneth Ramos
Rutherfordton, North Carolina
Kens Microscopy
Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques.

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