First records of Arcyria marginoundulata  
Nann.-Bremek. & Y. Yamam. (Myxomycetes) in Poland

ANNA RONIKIER1, PIOTR PERZ2 and PIOTR CHACHUŁA3

1Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, PL-31-512 Kraków, a.ronikier@botany.pl 
2Z. Nałkowskiej 12, PL-57-300 Kłodzko, uslugi@data.pl 

3Pieniński Park Narodowy, Jagiellońska 107B, PL-34-450 Krościenko nad Dunajcem  
piotrekchacha@gmail.com

Ronikier A., Perz P., Chachuła P.: First records of Arcyria marginoundulata Nann.-Bremek. 
& Y. Yamam. (Myxomycetes) in Poland. Acta Mycol. 48 (2): 279–285, 2013.

A new to Poland species of a myxomycete, Arcyria marginoundulata, was found at two 
distant localities in the southern part of the country. Polish specimens are typical and have all 
important features characteristic of the species: minute, grey, stipitate sporocarps, calyculus 
concentrically plicate at margin, spiny capillitium and small spores covered with few irregularly 
distributed larger warts. The species was found growing on alder female catkins. It seems that 
this substrate is specific for A. marginoundulata in Europe.
Key words: Arcyria globosa, Arcyriaceae, the Carpathians, Mycetozoa, Protozoa, the Sudetes

INTRODUCTION

The genus Arcyria belongs to the order Trichiales and family Arcyriaceae within the 
class Myxomycetes. It includes 50 species (Lado 2005-2013). Species of Arcyria are 
characterized by usually stalked sporocarps covered by fugacious peridium remain-
ing at the base as calyculus, pale spores and elastic capillitium forming a network 
(e.g. Poulain et al. 2011a). 

Twelve species of Arcyria have been reported from Poland by Drozdowicz et al. 
(2003) and one more species, Arcyria imperialis (G. Lister) Q. Wang & Yu Li has 
recently been found (see Panek, Romański 2010, as Hemitrichia imperialis G. Lister). 
Most of these species are common in the country and frequently reported. Only Ar-
cyria minuta has been recorded on less than five localities in Poland (Tabacki 1977, 
but see Drozdowicz et al. 2003, Stojanowska, Panek 2004; Panek, Romański 2010). 
Most Arcyria species occur on wood of coniferous or deciduous trees, but some of 
them can be found on other substrata, such as pine needles (A. annulifera, Lado, 
Pando 1997) or debris of monocotyledons (A. riparia, Poulain et al. 2011a). Arcyria 

ACTA MYCOLOGICA
Vol. 48 (2): 279–285

2013
DOI: 10.5586/am.2013.030

Dedicated to Professor Maria Ławrynowicz 
on the occasion of the 45th anniversary  

of her scientific activity



280 A. Ronikier et al. 

marginoundulata is another species that grows on specific substrates: alder female 
catkins or inflorescences of other trees (Poulain et al. 2011a, b). In the present paper 
we report this species, hitherto not known from Poland, from two distant localities in 
the southern part of the country.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Material was collected in the field in 2007. Observations and measurements of the 
morphological characters of mature sporophores were done under stereoscopic mi-
croscope Nikon SMZ 1500. The total height, height and width of sporotheca of ten 
sporophores per collection were measured. Observations of microscopic characters 
were made on material mounted in Hoyer’s medium or water and measurements 
on material mounted in Hoyer’s medium, under a light microscope Nikon Eclipse 
E-600, with a Nomarski interference contrast. Spore measurements of well devel-
oped specimens (30 per collection) were made under an oil-immersion objective 
(100×) and include ornamentation. Specimens are kept in KRAM. Localities of 
species in Poland were mapped according to the ATPOL grid square system as used 
by Wojewoda (2000). 

For a comparison of A. marginoundulata with a similar species, a collection of A. 
globosa Schwein. from KRAM was examined. On the original herbarium label there 
is information: “ex Herb W.G. Farlow” and the specimen was collected “in involucris 
Castaneorum”. Neither locality nor a date of collection is noted on the herbarium 
label, only: “Newton” (probably a collector name?) and: “Haüfig” (KRAM M-102).

RESULTS

SpecieS deScription

Arcyria marginoundulata Nann.-Bremek. & Y. Yamam. Figs 1, 2

Sporophores scattered, sporocarpic (Fig. 1a). Sporocarps stipitate, total height 
0.26–1.06 mm. Sporotheca globose or slightly wider than high (mean height/width 
ratio 0.94), 0.08–0.50 mm high, 0.10–0.48 mm wide, first pale red-brownish, then 
pale greyish when mature. Stalk long, 0.18–0.70 mm, one to four times longer than 
the sporotheca height, narrowly conical, longitudinally furrowed, pale greyish at 
apex, rusty-brown to yellow-brown towards the base (Figs 1b–d), yellow-brown by 
transmitted light. Peridium fugacious, remaining as a small calyculus at sporotheca 
base. Calyculus greyish, pale yellowish by transmitted light, radially wrinkled, margin 
thickened, concentrically plicate (Fig. 2a), surface almost smooth, with faint reticu-
lum-like pattern observed under light microscope. Capillitium dense, elastic, slight-
ly expanding, reticulate, large-meshed, in reflected light pale grey, in transmitted 
light pale yellowish and with yellow to yellow-brown, round inclusions inside swell-
ings when observed in water, hyaline in Hoyer’s medium, attached to the calyculus 



 First records of Arcyria marginoundulata 281

surface in several points, threads 1–3 μm wide, with some swellings, densely orna-
mented with 1–3(4) μm long, spines in outer part of sporotheca, or with low warts 
connected by a faint reticulum in inner part of sporotheca or close to the calyculus 
(Fig. 2c–d). Spines conical when observed in Hoyer’s medium, blunt or even slightly 

Fig. 1. Arcyria marginoundulata Nann.-Bremek. & Y. Yamam. coll. KRAM M-1584: a – group 
of sporophores on an alder female catkin; b – young sporocarp; c, d – mature sporocarps. 
Scale bars: a = 5 mm; b–d = 500 μm.



282 A. Ronikier et al. 

enlarged at apex when observed in water. Spores pale grey in mass, hyaline by trans-
mitted light, (6) 6.5–8 (9.5) μm, thin-walled, with loosely and irregularly distributed 
smaller and larger warts (Fig. 2b).

LocaLitieS in poLand: (1) the Central Sudetes, the Góry Bystrzyckie Mts, 
the Śnieżnik massif, about 25 km south from Kłodzko town, Domaszków village, 
16°42’13.69”E, 50°12’53.45”N, alt. 446 m, at the bank of the Domaszkowski Po-
tok stream, under alder tree, on alder female catkins, 22 July 2007, leg. Piotr Perz, 
KRAM M-1584; (2) the Western Carpathians, the Beskid Mały Mts, surroundings 
of Wadowice, about 2 km SE from Andrychów, Inwałd – „Wapiennik”, 19°23’22” 
E, 49°50’59,1” N, alt. 390 m, along a stream, among Alnus glutinosa and Urtica sp.; 
on alder (Alnus glutinosa) female catkins, 26 Aug. 2007 and 01 Oct. 2007, leg. Piotr 
Chachuła, KRAM M-1583.

noteS: Our specimens nicely fit the original description of Arcyria marginoundu-
lata, however they slightly differ in stalk colour and length; it is dark brown and about 
3/4 to 4/5 of the total sporocarp height in the type specimen (Nannenga-Bremekamp, 
Yamamoto 1983). Also size of spines on capillitium seem to differ from those described 
from the type material to be about 1 μm high (Nannenga-Bremekamp, Yamamoto 
1983). We observed spines up to 4 μm high in major part of the capillitium, while lower 
spines (about 1 μm high) cover capillitium threads close to the calyculus (Fig. 2c–d). 

Fig. 2. Arcyria marginoundulata Nann.-Bremek. & Y. Yamam. coll. KRAM M-1583: a – caly-
culus observed in Hoyer’s medium; b – spores observed in water; c, d – capillitium observed 
in water (c – top view, d –median view), note different ornamentation type in parts of capil-
litium: low and reticulate or high and spiny. Scale bar = 10 μm.



 First records of Arcyria marginoundulata 283

We also noted differences in spine shape depending on madium: conical with a point-
ed apex when observed in Hoyer’s medium and blunt or even slightly enlarged at apex 
when observed in water. The Polish collections are very similar to those described and 
illustrated by Liu et al. (2002) and Poulain et al. (2011a, b). 

Arcyria marginoundulata is one of several pale-coloured species from the genus. 
Other taxa occurring in temperate Europe differ among others in shorter stalk, 
larger sporothecae and occurrence of other substrata. One of the most similar to A. 
marginoundulata is A. globosa that is the most often reported from chestnut burrs 
(e.g., Martin, Alexopoulos 1969; Poulain et al. 2011a) but it has also been registered 
in moist chamber cultures from alder catkins (Adamonyté 2001). Arcyria globosa 
differs in shorter stalk (about ½ of the total sporophore height), larger and more 
convex calyculus that is not thickened and undulate at margin but thin, radially wrin-
kled at base and minutely concentrically wrinkled above (Fig. 3a). Additionally, A. 
globosa differs in capillitium ornamentation composed of low spines. Athough in 
some places the spines merges into reticulum (and then the capillitium ornamenta-
tion is similar to those of A. marginoundulata from the basal part), the most often 
they are arranged in right-handed spirals (Fig. 3b). 

We found specimens of A. marginoundulata at two localities in southern Poland 
(Fig. 4). Our first specimen was found by the second author on alder female catkins. 
Then it was searched for by the third author several days later in randomly selected 
localities with Alnus glutinosa stands and it was easily found. Thus, the species is 
probably common in Poland but overlooked due to its untypical habitat. Although 
it was reported from various substrata: inflorescence of Quercus serrata in Japan 
(Nannenga-Bremekamp, Yamamoto 1983), inflorescence of Castanea crenata in Ja-
pan (Poulain et al. 2011a, b), leaf litter, Miscanthus floridulus, Pseudosasa japonica, 
Cryptomeria japonica, fallen leaves in Taiwan (Liu et al. 2002) and ground litter and 
coarse woody debris in Texas, USA (Winsett, Stephenson 2012), A. marginoundulata 
seems to be associated with alder female catkins in Europe (see also Müller, Schulz 
2010). At our two localities the species occurred exclusively on alder female catkins 
and it was absent from other litter elements present at the localities. If the species is 
a frequent inhabitant of this substrate it is probably widespread in Poland, since the 
distribution of Alnus glutinosa covers almost the whole area of the country (Zając, 
Zając 2001).

Fig. 3. Arcyria globosa Schwein. coll. KRAM M-102: a – calyculus observed in Hoyer’s me-
dium; b – capillitium observed in water. Scale bars: a = 100 μm, b = 10 μm.



284 A. Ronikier et al. 

Acknowledgments. We thank Anna Drozdowicz for information about localities of Arcyria imperialis, to 
Michał Ronikier and two reviewers for valuable comments to the manuscript, and to Marian Wysocki and 
Jacek Wieser for a contour map of Poland. This work was partly financed through the statutory found of 
the W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences.

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Fig. 4. Distribution of Polish localities of Arcyria marginoundulata Nann.-Bremek.  
& Y. Yamam.



 First records of Arcyria marginoundulata 285

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Pierwsze stanowiska Arcyria marginoundulata Nann.-Bremek. & Y. Yamam.  
(Myxomycetes) w Polsce

Streszczenie

Nowy dla Polski gatunek śluzowca, Arcyria marginoundulata, charakteryzujący się białopo-
pielatymi zarodniami niewielkich rozmiarów (do ok. 0,5 mm średnicy) i występowaniem na 
szyszkach olszy, został znaleziony po raz pierwszy w Polsce, na dwóch stanowiskach w połu-
dniowej części kraju: w Sudetach (Góry Bystrzyckie) oraz w Karpatach (Beskid Mały). W ni-
niejszej pracy przedstawiono opis polskich okazów oraz ich stanowisk, a także porównano 
A. marginoundulata z najbardziej podobnym gatunkiem, A. globosa, który może występować 
na podobnym substracie. Arcyria marginoundulata jest gatunkiem kosmopolitycznym i mimo 
że znajdowanym na różnych substratach, w Europie wydaje się być przywiązany do szyszek 
Alnus. Możliwe, że gatunek jest pospolity w kraju, ale nieodnotowywany z powodu małych 
rozmiarów zarodni oraz występowania na specyficznym i rzadko badanym substracie.


		2013-12-20T14:52:07+0100
	Polish Botanical Society